The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads
by GameManiac
Summary: A Pokémon/real world FanFic. Eduardo: Man of Bulwark. Xeno Lucario: Aura Pokémon of Prophecy. Two different and complicated stories from two individuals on two different worlds, meeting together into one shared story. Rated T for blood, language, and graphic violence. (PS: "The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms" is now up!).
1. Prologue (Part I (1))

The following is a non-profit work of FanFiction. The original characters and storyline are all owned by me.

Pokemon, their characters, locations, merchandise, soundtrack, and story are all trademarks of Nintendo/Creatures inc./GAME FREAK inc.

We are very thankful to have this franchise exist.

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><p>The first chapter of the first story of my first work of FanFiction, one that I intend to finish, regardless of how long it may take.<p>

As the title suggests, most of this entire story will take place between two main protagonists, switching back and forth between both characters and their predicaments and settings, until both characters will meet eventually.

A lot of effort, time, and thought went into this story. I hope that, as the reader, you enjoy it, especially since I finally had the drive to make it.

I humbly accept comments and reviews of any kind, so that I can improve where needed, and _if_ needed.

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><p><strong>Prologue (Part I (1)): The Unique Boy<strong>

Immortality, what is it exactly? It is the capability of living forever, to have eternal life. To be able to survive what life expels towards you, no matter how dangerous or immeasurable.

With immortality, death is impossible.

This is what the gods have. This is why they have great power.

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><p>The life and times of a boy named Eduardo, born on January 1st, 33 A.D. I was born into a desert village that resides in Saudi Arabia, adjacent to the Red Sea, approximately 20°N and 40°E. Because of the coastline and the marine air, the area around my village is rarely seething with heat.<p>

My family consists of one mother and one father, whom are nearly never around. Why? Because they are soldiers that are always off fighting in any form of confrontation, whether it's a civil war or a war betwixt nations. Even when I was only an infant, with no one to care for, they were forced to leave me in solitude at our home.

So, how did I live my first few years?

As shocking as it may seem, I lived them in the most unusual way possible. If I.Q tests existed in this present year, and I was eligible in taking one, my I.Q would be measured to be at about 10,000—a _ludicrously_ high amount. My mind power was so great that I learned to walk upright in a week. I performed regular actions—such as bathing, drinking, eating, or talking—in only one month and I spoke flawless English in two months. The superior comprehensive abilities that were given unknowingly to me granted me incredible memory and learning capabilities.

If only my parents were around during my first year of life to see this firsthand.

They would only be around for a day in every year. A day that was unanimously greater than any other day in every year of my life. What made that day even more special was that it was always the day of my birthday. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present, probably because there were so few present possibilities during the first century.

Now, about the other 364 days in every year I lived.

Because of the _supercomputer_ that was my mind, I was able to perform tasks that were far distinct from whatever anyone else was able to do in this day and age.

I had the nonpareil ability to invent and manufacture incredible items—items that won't exist for another two millennia—, although I didn't invent them immediately. I only took precise notes and drew convoluted blueprints for them, out of the inferior resources that I had. Both of these came from odd dreams that I seemed to have almost every night, and it didn't take me long to figure out that these dreams appeared to be a gateway to the enigmatic and distant future. These vicarious dreams kept me sane and free of boredom during my first few years of life, this highly unusual and clairvoyant characteristic that I seemed to possess.

This was all that I seemed to dream about, I realized afterwards. Rarely, if _ever_, do I dream of something else.

Once I turned five years of age, I felt as if my body was strong enough—or at least _somewhat_ stronger—to create a personal and secret underground laboratory that I was finally able to manufacture my first and future inventions in, away from the public. I felt as if they shouldn't know of my doing, because these inventions were far from their set time. They may try to force me to create for them and then there was a strong possibility that they would use them for evil deeds.

That was my greatest concern when I was manufacturing my inventions. I trusted no one with these blueprints and notes, not even if these people were unable to benefit from them.

I kept my collection of references away from my parents by burying them under the sand—behind my own house—during the night so that no one could see what I was doing, so as not to arouse suspicion and ingrain questions and attention. I wasn't one to downgrade or mistreat my belongings. I was the type of person who values whatever becomes my possession, a heavily-materialistic child.

That laboratory that I eventually created was built directly under the sand on the floor of the center of my room, protected by a secret door incorporated into the floor. It only cost me three months to shovel away the unneeded compressed sand that would be replaced by it. I used various devices that I finally manufactured to allow me to move away the sand, without causing a cave-in each time I did so.

Over the course of two years—meaning that I was now seven years old—, both my laboratory and my invention output grew exponentially, as well as the variety of my experiments. However, there were a few days that went by every once in a while, where I wished I had trustworthy friends to share my thoughts with.

What was completely unknown to me was that two people were spying on me ever since I became eight years old. These two people moved to this remote village out of their will, for both of their parents—_different_ parents—died of natural causes, granting them both the encumbering title of orphanage.

Their names were Costas and Ian. Both boys were older than me by only a mere three months of age. They decided to move in to my home because they felt as if no one lived within its walls. Every other villager knew of my presence, and they also knew that I was able to fend for myself, despite my age.

Both of them were in for a surprise.

The instant that I went upstairs into my room, I was overwhelmed with surprise to their existence and vice versa from their points of view. However, what I actually felt more of was fear because my secret laboratory was now in jeopardy, as well as everything within it. Thankfully, much to my surprise, they weren't at all a hostile threat to me. In fact they were friendly to me and apologized to their intrusion of my property. They also told me about themselves and their tragic history.

I told them that I didn't mind their intrusion to my shelter, and I showed concern and lament for their loss. After that, I did something that I would've never thought I would ever do in my life: I gave them a tour of my underground laboratory.

As I showed them every floor of my laboratory, describing most inventions along the way, they were easily—and predictably—impressed. I told them that they had to respect my only wish: to keep my laboratory a secret to all. To the nearby villagers, to people halfway across the Earth, to even my own _parents_, they couldn't tell anyone. They agreed to my only wish, as long as _their_ wish was granted.

And what was their wish?

Their wish was to live with me in this home. They were instantly drawn to both me and my inventions. Or maybe they just liked my home. I wasn't entirely sure at first.

My thoughts to this: I finally made friends whom respected and appreciated my hobby without questioning it.

Once my parents came soon after, I introduced Costas and Ian to them. Both my parents kindly greeted back. Once that was out of the way, I told them about their tragic history and how they needed a home to stay in. To my hopes, they both allowed Costas and Ian to live here as adopted children—family. The reactions of us three were untainted happiness.

And to that day, all three of us were now brothers.

For the next five years, we spent almost all of our time in my—or as it should be known now: _our_—laboratory, enjoying each other's company.

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><p><span>Date: January 1, 46 A.D.<span>

Eduardo's Age: 13 years old

Costas's Age: 13 years, 3 months old

Ian's Age: 13 years, 3 months old

All three of us were teenagers now, once I turned thirteen today.

My work with technology grew advanced with my age. I learned how to experiment with plant life. Through this skill, I successfully created sixty-four different plant specimens, each harboring Berries—with a capital "B", so as to distinguish them from the regular plant life—of different types and _capabilities_. These Berries, unlike normal fruit, are imbued with unusual powers that allow them to assist the user in various ways. To what extent and range, I've yet to analyze.

Then again, that's what testing is for.

Once I turned fourteen years of age—and Costas and Ian entered their third month of their fourteenth year of life—, something out-of-the-ordinary occurred: our parents failed to show up.

Before any emotions and inquiries relating to this event could surge, the only thing that actually showed up was a letter to our doorstep. I was the first to notice it and I constantly pondered about the identity of the sender of this letter.

I searched the entire village for a trace of the person who could've possibly sent this letter. Unfortunately, my search ended in vain.

Once I brought the letter to my two adopted brothers, we read the letter together, absorbing whatever was written on the sheet into our minds.

_Dear offspring (Eduardo, Costas, and Ian):_

_ I am sorry to inform you that your parents perished in the field of battle. Their last service to the military was on November of 46 A.D., where they valiantly fought trying to prevent a Roman army invasion from succeeding. Their deaths were in vain, for the Roman Army invasion was unfortunately successful in their plans._

_ I hope you enjoy the remainder of your lives as happy orphans._

_Sincerely:_

_A kind-hearted soul._

_ P.S.:_

_If you three believed that pitiful _shit_ of a letter, _and_ cried at the same time, then you three are _pathetic_ and _imbecilic_ naturally. I loved slaughtering them before conquering with _my_ invasion of highly-trained and organized subordinates. I would love to go into the details on how much blood I saw them all shed and how _satisfying_ it was to slaughter them both—and I actually _can_ because of my nature—but I'm busy at this particular moment and must stop writing this letter as it is. _

_Yours truly:_

_Mercury, the Roman General in charge of the invasion._

Both Costas and Ian took the news with great anguish and cried for hours, especially since they had lost their parents years ago.

As for me, well for some reason that I can't explain, I _did_ feel anguish, but it was only _mild_ anguish. As hard as I could try to feel more sadness as to what occurred, I couldn't. In fact, I actually felt a lot more confusion and _rage_ than sadness. Why? Because how did that Roman General know where I lived, who my parents were, and how many children they had and adopted?

This letter formed a goal in my life: to avenge the death of my parents and _kill_ the Roman General Mercury, wherever this monster may reside.

I thought multiple vindictive thoughts for weeks after the letter was received by us three. I thought of killing him via poison, or perhaps torture. Or I could go a bit unorthodox and gradual, as in I could forcibly fight him one-on-one and slash at his flesh until he dies of blood loss. However, I stopped with these immaterial thoughts because of one primary reason:

What was the point if I don't know this person's identity, or _location_ for that matter? How could I defeat someone who had experience in military strategy and hand-to-hand combat?

Time will tell.

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><p>"That's how war is fought, (...). You don't fight with minimum force, you fight with maximum force at endurable cost. You don't just pink your enemy, you don't even bloody him, you destroy his capability to fight back. (...) You have to kill a hundred percent." —Orson Scott Card (340-341) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

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><p>For the record, I intend to finish a chapter with a quote, one that either highlights the main point of the chapter or best summarizes it.<p>

When I wrote this chapter, I figured that simply explaining would suffice instead of adding dialogue into the mix. After all, this is a Pokémon FanFic, and my original character's side of the story is, at the moment, loosely intertwined.


	2. Parallel Prologue (Part I (1))

The following is a non-profit work of FanFiction. The original characters and storyline are all owned by me.

Pokemon, their characters, locations, merchandise, soundtrack, and story are all trademarks of Nintendo/Creatures inc./GAME FREAK inc.

We are very thankful to have this franchise exist.

* * *

><p>This chapter, the second half to this story, is why this FanFic exists where it is, and why two chapters were submitted simultaneously.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Parallel Prologue (Part I (1)): The Mysterious Pokémon<strong>

The aura, it is the quintessence of all that exists and surrounds us. It exists in all life, all earth, all water, and all air. It is known to many, but practiced by few.

From a different universe with a different time, there exists a parallel Earth, where animals are imbued with uncanny powers and abilities, some having greater power than others. Hundreds of these "animals" exist on this parallel Earth, and are identifiable as "Pocket Monsters"—or "Pokémon" for short.

(You probably know this already.)

As for the humans that exist in that parallel Earth, some of them _raise_ these Pokémon, earning them the title of "Pokémon Trainer". These trainers, most of them, have a common goal: to become a "Pokémon Master". To reach this greatness, they must obtain all eight badges of their home region through eight different "Pokémon Gyms" and then defeat the "Elite Four" and the "Champion".

(You probably know this as well.)

* * *

><p><span>Estimated Location: Kanto Region (Forest)<span>

Estimated Date: Very Late 20th Century

This is one of many forests in the Kanto region of this parallel Earth. The trees stretch high enough to screen those below from the sunlight, and are concentrated close enough to each other to have their foliage intertwine. Many different types of Pokémon reside in these forest areas, from the bird-like, insect-like, and lizard-like.

All of these unique organisms appear to live happily together, well content with their basic and stable lives.

Below on the forest floor, there exists a Pokémon egg between the gnarled and thick roots of one of the thousands of forest trees. This egg was about the size of a basketball, having a blue-colored shell with a yellow ring on the top and a black lower half.

How this egg came to be here is unknown, but what _is_ known about this Pokémon egg is that it is close to hatching.

The egg was faintly flashing a heavenly white light, a light bright enough to illuminate the dark forest floor within a 50 feet radius. The light dimmed after about five seconds, and then the light resumed, with far more potency in its brilliant white glow. The light faded away after a full ten seconds, and as if by sorcery, a Pokémon has swapped places with the egg. The hatched Pokémon was lying there asleep, curled up to keep warm and huddled up to the roots for comfort.

This Pokémon resembles a jackal pup in many specific ways, but with significant differences in appearance. For starters it has blue fur on most areas of its body. It also has a yellow-colored collar, black-furred legs, a sable torso, and a shadowy "mask" on its face with one dreadlock-like appendage hanging off each side of its head. Besides that, it also has stout, dubious ears, as well as a bushy, short tail—both blue in color. It has pink-colored pads on its forepaws and hind paws, and a protruding layer of _bone_ on the back of its wrists—normal for this breed of Pokémon. It is roughly two feet tall—_bipedal_—and weighs approximately forty pounds. Finally, it has sanguine red eyes—visually unnoticeable because it's still sound asleep, snoring lightly and cutely through its adorable, short snout.

So, who's that Pokémon? I'll give you a few more (obvious and possibly unnecessary) hints: Fighting-Type, Emanation Pokémon, and aura.

The identity—spoiler alert!—of the species of this Pokémon is Riolu.

This particular Riolu possesses a few unusual traits that set it apart from your average, everyday, _seldom_-seen Riolu. For starters, this Riolu's blue fur is significantly darker in color compared to any other Riolu. The blueness of its fur resides somewhere between indigo and midnight blue. However, _dark_ blue is sufficient enough in describing the color of its fur.

The _other_ traits that it has will become clear to it in time and with experience.

_**(National Pokédex entry #447: Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. It is a Fighting-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 04" and weighs approximately 44.5 lbs. It has the peculiar power to be able to see emotions, such as joy and rage, in the form of waves. However, this Riolu is far too **_**fresh**_** to learn this.)**_

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><p>Eventually, this Riolu decided to wake up later in the morning. Once it did, it decided to venture off into the forest that it was born in, instinctively in search of something to eat. Along its voyage, it observed the vibrant native wildlife, so as to become accustomed to the home it was born in.<p>

"Where can I find _something_ to eat in this green place?" He spoke one of his first words—his new voice similar to that of a small toddler. His forepaws clutched his torso from hunger.

(To already develop a sense of identity—as well as perspective in this story—, it would be helpful to refer to it as "he" instead of "it".)

After a few more minutes of searching for suitable nourishment, he finally came across a tall and wide tree, one that stood out to him in terms of size. Hanging off of this gargantuan tree's branches and hidden within its leaves, a plump, yellow Sitrus Berry resides, swaying lazily and casually in the breeze.

Riolu's eyes twinkled with delight at the sight of the portly yellow Berry. His mouth began to salivate at the sight of this brilliant fruit. He set his mind to the task of obtaining that Berry as his first meal of his pristine life.

For his first attempt to obtain the Sitrus Berry, he tried to climb up the tree with the yellow Berry hanging off high up. After wrapping all but one of his hind limbs onto the tree's widespread trunk, he realized that there was one flaw with his first attempt: the tree's width was _three_ times that of his arm span and leg span, and his nails haven't grown long enough yet—because he's only a few hours old—to be of considerable use. So without long enough nails at his disposal, he wouldn't be able to grip the bark on the tree and climb it.

"Well, _this _isn't going to work," he reluctantly removed his footing on the tree, accepting the fact that his first attempt has failed.

For Plan B, he optically scanned the area around him, trying to find another helpful asset to his Plan B.

His visual search didn't take him too long, for he already figured out another path to get to the Sitrus Berry prize from above. He found a tree nearby that he could easily climb and a vine sagging from its branch that he can utilize to swing from.

"Hmm… Good enough for me," he reviewed this action repeatedly within his mind and decided to take it into action.

He climbed up the tree slowly, albeit steadily. He synchronized the movements of his forepaws and hind paws, so as to prevent himself from falling due to poor grip. He eventually reached the base of the tree branch where the vine resided. He looked down and noticed that he was higher up than he originally thought, by at least thirty feet from his mental speculation.

"(*Gulp*)" He swallowed nervously at how high he was, his blood red eyes opened wide with uneasiness.

He precariously proceeded across the tree branch, taking his time with each step, listening to how the branch creaked under his weight. It became collectively more difficult to proceed further and further across the branch, because the branch was thinning out and bending from his weight. Thankfully, he was close enough to the vine to reach out to it now. He grabbed it with both of his paws and eyed the Sitrus Berries across the tree adjacent to the one he just climbed up on.

He jumped off of the tree branch and swung on the vine forward. Just as he was about to cross over to the next tree…

_**SNAP!**_

…he suddenly found himself falling from a dizzying height.

He screamed at the top of his tiny lungs as he fell. The damp soil below caught the Emanation Pokémon and cushioned his fall. The _entire_ front half of his body buried into the earth, and the vine that he had previously gripped onto was a few feet away from him, useless. Fortunately, the body of a Riolu is lithe and powerful, so he survived the fall with seemingly minor injuries.

It would take far _greater_ heights to fall from to prove life-threatening for any Emanation Pokémon.

"Ugh…my snout…" the soil muffled his groaning when he spoke without budging an inch from his self-made dirt crater.

With his body felling moderately sore from the massive fall that he endured, he slowly lifted his arms off of the earth and used them to lift his stunned body, then used his legs to slowly regain his normal bipedal posture, instinctively ensuring that if he sustained any injuries, he wouldn't further injure himself with a sudden tweak of his body. He simply took his time, making sure that he was feeling alright.

The soil that acted as a cushion for him clung on to his fur like Velcro, but it fell off and back onto the floor where it belongs with a few simple sweeps of his paws across his dark blue fur. He then felt a warm running sensation across one of the nasal passages of his snout. He put a paw up to his nose, thinking "(Am I bleeding?)" before taking his paw off from his snout, hoping that the only two colors that he sees on his paw is dark blue and pink—from his fur and paw pads.

To his surprise, he sees _red_ staining his paw as well, meaning that he had sustained injury to his snout.

"(Yep, I'm bleeding,)" he could feel the blood dripping down from his snout.

To prevent anymore blood from staining his paws an immaterial sanguine color, he noticed one leaf nearby himself and picked it up with his paws. He rolled it up and then he inserted it halfway up his nostril, using it as a plug and a sponge to absorb and stop the excess blood, so that his paws don't have to be further stained red. He could taste the blood rolling to the back of his throat, all the more reason for him to find a Sitrus berry to consume.

Riolu traveled further across the forest, searching for trees thin enough for him to cling onto and climb, as well as tree branches on them that were full of fruit—Sitrus Berries. He didn't want to repeat the frightening experience that he just had.

To his relief, it only took him a couple of minutes to find a suitable tree. Better yet, the tree's branches were similar to that of a ladder, so he could simply hop across them to get his prize.

He did just as he envisioned and obtained the entire branch where a collection of ripe Sitrus Berries were growing from. He climbed back down with his prize in hand.

"Come to me, my precious," he spoke victoriously, having obtained his first meal of the day—of his _life_. He plucked the first Berry of his life off of the branch and brought it to his salivating mouth, biting off a piece of the fruit with his sharp, yet young and developing, canine-like fangs. His mouth was in a sudden euphoria of incredible flavor. Once he tasted the Berry's incredibly tangy and verbally-indescribable flavor for the first time, the pupils on his eyes widened with astonishment and he came _very_ close to losing his grip on the Sitrus Berry, as well as the branch holding more of them.

"(Such…delicious…flavor...)" He pondered the rich taste of the Berry as he continued to chew. "(How's it possible to contain so much flavor into one small Berry?)" He swallowed the piece of the fruit that he bit off and mutilated another piece to eat, chewing it slowly so that he can fully admire the exotic flavor that was stored within the delicious Berry.

After a minute of satisfied consumption, he finally finished eating the exotic fruit, and easily enjoyed every bit of it. However, he felt like he still had enough of an appetite to devour a few more from his acquired tree branch, since Sitrus Berries were only two inches in diameter, and he had a healthy appetite.

He proceeded further within the forest, enjoying the fruit that he had collected. The nosebleed that he had on him eventually coagulated and healed, however he has yet to remember to remove the leaf from his nasal passage.

If only he was more aware of the enigmatic figure that was _stalking_ him nearby from behind some thick foliage.

* * *

><p><em>A short while later…<em>

As Riolu ventured deeper into the forest, fueled solely by curiosity, he was finishing the last Berry he had in his possession, and just like with the other several that he already ate, he was enjoying every bit of it.

"The last bite of the first meal I've ever had…" He said solemnly while staring at the last remaining chunk of Sitrus Berry in his paw, then he stuffed it into his mouth, almost shedding a tear due to the fact that it was the last Berry he had on his branch. "(*Sigh*)."

Just as he was about to take another step, he heard rustling nearby. His instincts flared and the tips of his ears twitched as he was suddenly overcome with the sense that he was being followed. How he felt like he was sensing something hostile approaching him was completely unknown to him, but his stubby ears continued to twitch as he listened closely.

As a safety precaution, he scanned the area around him a full 360 degrees with slight trepidation. Once done, even though he didn't see anything hostile around his surroundings, he _still_ felt an uneasy presence nearby, but he couldn't pinpoint it.

"How strange…"Riolu spoke to himself with mild confusion about his instincts that made him raise his guard. "Why do I feel the presence of something hostile?"

"Hostile?" An enigmatic ominous voice replied back from somewhere around Riolu, but where exactly was unknown. "Can you define 'Hostile'?" That same voice said once more in a rhetorical tone.

The confused Emanation Pokémon's eyes widened, his heart rate suddenly spiked, and his breathing increased at the sudden response he received, for now he realized that his instincts were right. He didn't care in the least what the voice was saying, only where it originated from.

With a fearfully swollen heart, he quickly did an about-face, only to find nothing behind him that he could quickly classify as hostile. Felling more fear and pressure within his ribcage, he scanned everywhere else carefully, swiftly and still noticed nothing. He grew more and more anxious that he believed he heard a nearby bush rustle softly.

In an act of desperation and fear, he instinctively targeted the bush and apprehensively launched the only weapon he had on his possession—the stick that once had Sitrus Berries on it—into the foliage. The stick twirled like a propeller in blurry fashion and struck the bush that Riolu fearfully ogled with respectable force. Sadly, the impact only made him realize that fear was causing him to hallucinate and that the ominous voice's location wasn't there.

The voice cackled evilly, appearing to be heard from all around Riolu's location.

"Who…" Riolu decided to correct himself, since he was more fear-struck as to where the voice came from. "W-where are you?" he shouted off at some random direction, hoping that he'll either get a response to help give away the enigmatic voice's identity, location or silence— more preferably—so that he can calm down and his stressed heart can abate itself to a comfortable rate.

"I'm right above you!" The enigmatic voice alerted.

Riolu's heart rate spiked once more, once he heard the voice's response to his stammered inquiry. He came close to whimpering when the location of the voice was revealed by the hostile target itself. Hoping not to see his brief life flash before his eyes—all he would recall is the hunt for sustenance anyway—, he rigidly tilted his head upward and found the source of the enigmatic and ominous voice.

From atop the trees and standing on one of its thick branches, was a quadruped snow white Pokémon with a thick, lion-like mane around its neck. It has three sharp, shadow-colored claws on each paw and another nail on its quadruped joints. Blood-red eyes added to its hostility, and a shadow-colored crescent-shaped tail was present on its hindquarters. However, its most distinct feature was the exotic taijitu—yin-yang—symbolism on its face, with a downward-pointing white clump of fur on its left side, a blade-like black appendage pointing upward on its right side, and a circular-shaped bit of black fur on its forehead.

Who's that Pokémon then? It's an Absol. And this one has a bloodlust for battle.

_**(National Pokédex entry #359: Absol, the Disaster Pokémon. It is a Dark-Type Pokémon that measures in at 3' 11" and weighs in at approximately 103.6 lbs. Rumored to sense disasters with its horn, it became a target, and it fled deep into the mountains. **_**This**_** Absol, however, never chose to do so.)**_

Eyeing the unfortunate Riolu maliciously, it jumped off the branch and attempted to fall atop of him, claws first and white, sharp, intimidating teeth exposed.

Without thinking and giving his next action a second thought, Riolu rolled forward and out of the way, hoping the battle-hungry Disaster Pokémon was an imbecile and injured itself upon impact with the ground.

When he got back up on his feet and chose to look behind his back, hoping what he would see next was an unconscious—and imbecilic—Absol, he saw the exact _opposite_ of his desired outcome. He saw an Absol standing on all four paws, despite falling from a height similar to Riolu's episode with the Sitrus Berry earlier, completely unharmed and glaring at him menacingly with blood-red eyes.

"What's the matter? Are you scared of me?" It growled with an untrustworthy grin as it slowly approached the frightened Riolu, whom was stepping back in fear, not wanting to be nearby it at any cost to himself.

He shook his head side to side, but his body was rattling too much for this to be identified as a simple "No". He continued to step back, almost falling over himself due to the lack of rigidity that his legs now had, trying his hardest not to show fear. He couldn't step back any further once he felt the bark of a tree poke at his backside, and it was then that he knew that he had to think of something, _anything_, to help him escape from the hostile Disaster Pokémon.

Thankfully, he had a plan.

"L-look o-o-over t-there!" He stammered, pointing off in some random direction, hoping that the hostile Absol looked over there. "S-s-someone's c-calling o-out to y-y-you!"

This Absol didn't even look at the direction that the _pathetically_ desperate Emanation Pokémon pointed to. All Absol did was continue to stare at him with its eyes half-open, thinking that his tactic was downright embarrassing. It didn't even _choose_ to ponder how pathetic that "plan" was.

"…Uh…" Even Riolu, deep down, thought his "plan" was pathetic.

He swiveled his eyes to his left and right quickly, then darted off to his left in _absol_-ute fear.

The Disaster Pokémon just kept its eyes locked on to the fleeing Pokémon. It closed its eyes, shook its head and sighed briefly in pity, before engaging in hot pursuit.

* * *

><p><em>One minute later…<em>

Riolu hastily jumped over large roots, sidestepped across tree trunks, and swatted tree branches out of the way, not wanting _anything_ to slow him down and begging for Arceus in high Heaven to not allow it to do so.

Once he felt like he ran far enough away to not be seen, he hid behind a nearby tree trunk, waiting for the hostile Absol to pass by, desperately hoping that the malicious Absol would continue running in the wrong direction and away from him, and allow him to catch his breath.

Once he saw the Absol pass by—just like he had hoped—, he turned to the opposite direction that it was running off to and ran away as if his life depended on it—which it does! However, just as he thought that he was in the clear, the _very same_ Absol that he was running from jumped down right in front of him. This caused Riolu to suddenly plant his feet into the soil to stop himself abruptly in his tracks, all in all surprised at how quick the Absol was in finding him.

Immediately, the Absol aimed the right side of its face at Riolu and began to store up energy in the blade-like appendage on its head until it emanated a brilliant white light. "RAZOR WIND!" It shouted before swinging its head to the left, launching the blade-like appendages' stored energy into a crescent-shaped _gale_ blade that flew toward Riolu at an extremely high speed.

Instinctively, Riolu brought up his arms as a shield to defend himself, using a Pokémon technique named ENDURE. He quickly received the RAZOR WIND attack with enough force to violently knock him back about fifty feet, then crash into a tree, back first—which literally knocked the _wind_ right out of his lungs in the form of a sudden exhale—, and left him to fall on all fours, his mouth rapidly searching for air.

Absol was left confused by the technique that Riolu used to defend itself. "(Why did this pup choose to ENDURE instead of merely evading my RAZOR WIND attack…)" Absol thought to itself in a skeptical tone of voice. "(There's no benefit in doing so. And…how exactly did you re-learn ENDURE?)" It pondered further and wrinkled its forehead, trying to find a reason for Riolu's tactics.

"(What is this Pokémon's problem? Why is it picking a fight with me? What did _I_ ever do to it?)" Riolu pondered in a rushed and apprehensive mental tone.

He eventually got back up on his two black feet once the soreness emanating from his back became bearable, still gasping for air but much more easily now.

Riolu had a change of tactics after feebly getting up onto his two black feet. "(What does it matter? If this hostile wants to get a battle from me, then I'll try my hardest to give it a war!)"

Taking in one final recuperative breath, he dashed right towards Absol using QUICK ATTACK, possessing a serious countenance and almost having _all_ of his fear disappear in an instant. He had his right paw curled up into a fist. A fist determined to punch the living daylights out of this hostile Disaster Pokémon.

Absol noticed this and braced itself by lowering its head and forming a battle stance, _knowing_ that the incoming Riolu was going to land a punch to its face. It braced itself and grinned discreetly at the incoming attack.

Once he got closer, Riolu quickly realized from the smug grin that Absol had on its face that it knew what he was intending to do. Riolu quickly adapted himself to a change of plan and planned on doing a technique that Absol wouldn't expect.

Once within touching distance, Riolu quickly uncurled his right paw at the last possible moment, planted it on its forehead—leaving Absol momentarily confused at the sudden change of actions—, catapulted himself over its back, grabbed its tail with both paws, and in one somersault, he actually managed to _lift_ Absol over his head and, more surprisingly, sent it _flying_ to a tree that was fifteen feet away. He unknowingly emphasized the "lithe, yet powerful" trait of his physical constitution.

Absol crashed into the tree back first, gasping automatically from the force of impact expelling some air from his lungs and pushing his diaphragm reluctantly, and then slid to the ground, mildly stunned at the strength that Riolu possesses.

However, Riolu was filled with more disbelief at what he just did right now. "What just happened…?" He ogled both of his paws and pondered in disbelief, confused at how much physical power he had at his disposal.

"Ugh…" Absol moaned while getting up, feeling a bit shaken from the unpredicted launch it was given. "(You're just as strong as always, pup.)"

Riolu looked back at Absol and curled up his paws into fists, preparing himself for further onslaught. "Have you had enough yet?" Riolu grinned and shouted.

Absol shook its head to remove the little vertigo that remained within it. "I hate to admit it, but I'm impressed…" It spat the words out of its mouth, not liking how they tasted. "…However, I've endured worse."

Riolu's grin disappeared. He knew this meant that this Absol was far more experienced than it—which was obvious.

"In fact…" It felt like this was the perfect time to simultaneously TAUNT and provoke Riolu's anger, causing him to drop his guard in the process. "I've had _Magikarp_ strike at me harder than you!"

Just as Absol had planned, the TAUNT worked and caused Riolu's anger to spike. "That's it! It's go time!" He charged towards Absol with seething spite, using QUICK ATTACK in the process.

"(I can't believe that actually worked,)" Absol thought, then mimicked Riolu's action and used QUICK ATTACK as well.

They both charged towards each other at full blast, not having any intention of slowing down, let alone stopping because of fear of receiving serious damage.

Quickly, they both impacted each other head-first. The end result from both of their sudden impact was shocking. They were _both_ at a standoff, with their heads connected by the forehead, both _equally_ matched in power and neither one showing any signs of fatigue. They were both gritting their teeth, each wanting to overwhelm the other.

After a minute or so of this standoff, Absol was actually beginning to lose stamina and began to show it when Riolu ingrained his paws and pushed forward, causing the dirt to slide beneath Absol's feet.

Using whatever stamina it had left to give to this stand-off, Absol gave one final thrust forward to prevent a slip backwards, and then slashed at Riolu's torso with its right forepaw, loving the feeling of skin split open and slide off to each nail's side and the warm blood that followed—and with three claws in each of its paw, they formed three flesh wounds that dug surprisingly deep into Riolu's furry black torso.

Riolu unsurprisingly yelped loudly, feeling pain equivalent to someone branding a Miltank with hot iron. Completely ignoring his current predicament, he stepped backwards, clenched his teeth harder than before, and grasped the sliced area of his torso with the very same paw that used to test if he had a nosebleed, desperately trying to ignore the sharp sting that came from touching the wound and instinctively protecting it.

Knowing that this was the perfect time to attack, Absol didn't hold anything back. It easily catapulted the wounded Riolu with its head, sending him flying high into the sky, and then crashing back down to earth, _forty_ feet away from it. The unfortunate Riolu lied there on the cool soil in an unconscious state, still holding onto his wound, not wanting the earth to contaminate it. However, the earth was being contaminated by his dripping blood.

The only thing that the Absol did was smile at its alleged victory. "Hmph. (This was far too easy. I actually expected more than from this pup than for him to get knocked out from a fall alone.)"

Absol then noticed the blood that was seeping out of Riolu's torso and how it was forming a wide pool that would draw concern from _other_ Pokémon that might pass by the area, be they friendly or _hungry_.

"(Of course, the severe wound that I inflicted on this pup may have been enough to end any form of a counterattack, or even _life_ for that matter.)"

All of a sudden, a thought came to it when it noticed the _dark_ blue fur of Riolu.

"(Why am I left with this sense that I _wasn't_ fighting the Riolu that I intended to fight?)" Absol continued to stare at the dark blue fur, never noticing the subtle change in color because of how dark the forest floor often is.

As the victor continued to stare at the bleeding loser, trying to identify this particular Pokémon, it noticed that Riolu's other paw curled up into a fist that showed signs of consciousness. Riolu ingrained its fist onto the earth, lifting himself up, a surefire sign that he wasn't ready to give up and let Absol win, or _kill_ him.

Absol was just left wide-eyed with disbelief, "(Impossible! Its blood loss should've sealed its fate already!)"

Despite his feeble condition, Riolu slowly got to one knee, using the free paw that was failingly holding back blood for support. "If you…think…you're going…to win…against me…by _killing_…me…" He weakly said as he got back up on both feet, almost falling back due to the light-headed felling that he earned from the moderate amount of blood that he's already lost. "Then…you're a…more…_pathetic_ fighter…than I…would've ever…thought…"

Riolu's vision was beginning to fail him, as well as his acute sense of hearing. He was beginning to see the colors of his surroundings blend and blur together, and the ambience of the forest's surroundings was beginning to warp to his ears. He somehow fought through it nevertheless, because if he didn't, he'd be _dead_.

"(Did that Riolu _runt_ just call me '_pathetic_'?)" It thought with sprouting rage. "(It tried a desperate attempt of escape earlier back, and it's hypocritically calling _me_ pathetic?)"

Growling with rage, it shouted, "Do you want to know who the more _pathetic_ fighter is?" It charged towards the wounded and allegedly defenseless Riolu. "Once Arceus lifts your soul, you'll see for _yourself_ and know!"

Seeing the incoming white missile whose course is martially set on him, the unprecedented occurred to him, triggered by a survival instinct. Riolu's body became surrounded by his natural aura: a translucent blue color.

Partially ignoring Riolu's sudden increase in aura output, the Absol charged toward Riolu with even more speed, and more power put into it. It didn't want Riolu to get a chance at retaliation.

Instead of showing fear to Absol's aggression, Riolu simply smirked at its anger-fueled stupidity. For a change of events, _it_ was the one defenseless, and not Riolu. "(If I'm going to die suddenly, I'll die fighting!)" Riolu fatalistically accepted death if his next attack were to fail him.

At the last possible split second of impact, a shock came to Absol. Right before it dealt the alleged finishing attack, Riolu somehow grasped Absol by the _neck_ with his blood-soaked left paw, _completely_ nullifying Absol's rage-fueled PURSUIT attack, leaving it more surprised than enraged now. Absol was now witnessing Riolu's smirk of confidence, as well as the blood-red eyes that seemed more intimidating with its current display of aura. Riolu's chokehold slowly cut Absol off of air, even though Riolu didn't want to try and kill Absol through suffocation.

With his free right paw, _another_ impossible feat occurred to the Emanation Pokémon. The aura from his free paw condensed and swirled in a circular motion. Within seconds, a perfect sphere of swirling blue aura was born on the palm of his right paw.

Riolu was now using AURA SPHERE, a Pokémon technique that remains distant from its species, until they evolve.

"(What the hell?)" Absol thought in disbelief while simultaneously gasping and choking from an unintended lack of oxygen.

Molding his paw into a fist, with the AURA SPHERE not acting as a projectile, but as a _boxing_ glove, Riolu leaned his paw back wanting to deliver as much power as physically possible with this final attack that he strongly suspects will be his last.

Giving it the entire excess aura emanating from his body, he _punched_ Absol dead center in the jaw, unexpectedly creating a violent explosion that was overwhelming to _both_ Pokémon.

They were both sent flying and collided onto the most common obstacle that a forest is able to provide: a tree. The collisions left Absol on his side and Riolu with his back on the tree's bark. The Disaster Pokémon had its jaw shattered in _both_ joints, more than half of its teeth fractured, its tongue burned somewhat, and its face endured second-degree burns, burning off the layer of black fur on it.

Riolu was in a worse state of body than Absol, despite his final attack. He lost about a third of his blood from Absol's claw swipe. He was given moderate burns on his right paw from the explosion, and his right arm had fractured from the violent knockback, leaving the bone from his arm sticking out of his flesh. Add that to the wound on his torso—courtesy of Absol—, and to the nosebleed that he received earlier when retrieving a Sitrus Berry, and the Emanation Pokémon is in significantly worse shape than Absol.

But what they both had in common in terms of injury was they were _both_ knocked unconscious by the brutal impact onto the tree. Unfortunately, Absol was the first Pokémon to get back up onto its feet, feebly, and receive the full pain dosage of its severe facial injuries. Holding back a near automatic urge to scream to the skies in pain, it gritted its teeth in pain, dubious as to how powerful Riolu was.

"(Son of a _bitch_…)" It cursed in its mind as it slowly limped closer to the knocked-out Riolu. "(It ruined my face with an AURA SPHERE? This Riolu is paws-down _not_ the intended one I wanted to fight! It's far more enigmatic than my intended target anyway!)" Absol growled furiously at the accidental mix-up that cost him most of the nostalgic appearance on its face. "(I won't allow you to live, not after what you did to my face!)"

Halting in its tracks twenty feet away from the unconscious Riolu—because walking there was now physically difficult due to the bruises on its legs that it endured from the impact on the tree—, it began to gather and store pure power into the black blade-like appendage on its face, wanting to cut it in half with one final RAZOR WIND attack.

Suddenly, the same RAZOR WIND attack, only with _twice_ as much power imbued into it, came from above the trees and impacted Absol without it knowing where it came from, sending it flying into a tree, yet again. The front of its face crashed into the tree, completely rendering Absol's RAZOR WIND attack null and void, once it fell unconscious again. The tree that it impacted actually snapped in half from the shock of the impact.

Soon after, the source of the surprise attack dropped off of its spot on a nearby tree and onto the soil below, perfectly between the two unconscious Pokémon. As for the identity of the Pokémon: it was actually another Riolu, coincidentally the one that was Absol's _intended_ target. This one had enough experience imbued within it to utilize ME FIRST, a technique used to mimic the opponent's planned technique with much more power put into it, which only work if the user is faster than its opponent.

This Riolu fearlessly walked towards the unconscious Absol and noticed the severity of the injuries that it endured onto its face. "(Damn. I can hardly recognize you.)"

Doing a full about-face to examine the other Pokémon, its reaction was a bit more concerning.

"(Oh my Arceus…)" Its eyes were wide open with shock at how severe that Riolu's injuries were. "(What in the world happened to you?)" It pondered further, obviously expressing more concern to the injured Riolu than the facially-indistinguishable Absol. The fact that they belonged into the same _species_ explained otherwise.

Running over to the wounded Riolu, it stopped once it was within touching distance of him. It noticed a warm, wet feeling on its foot pads. It thought at first that it was merely a puddle of water. However, it decided to take a look closer at the puddle. It immediately realized that that puddle wasn't water, rather it was blood. Remaining calm and collected in terms of emotion, it examined the injuries on the wounded pup.

It noticed that Riolu had its left paw placed onto its torso. It removed the paw from Riolu's torso and instantly grew wide-eyed at seeing the massive three-clawed gash on his torso, and even more at the blood staining its blue, furry torso. It also noticed the burnt right paw and broken right arm bone, protruding from the skin. But it was still more concerned at the terrifying slash across his chest, because the blood pouring out of the open wound was draining Riolu of his life.

The concerned Riolu put its paw onto his sternum, surprised to still detect a pulse, a healthy-beating heart. "(How does anyone survive with so much blood lost?)"

Knowing what had to be done, this selfless Riolu grabbed his left paw and easily hoisted him onto its back, reluctant about the warm, fresh blood that it was feeling run down its fur. Just as it was about to leave the area with him, it remembered the wounded Absol that it noticed first, and struck with ME FIRST.

Staring back to the wounded Absol, it felt as if it should be left for dead. However, its conscience was telling it to aid that Pokémon as well. It knew that it wasn't strong enough to carry both of them. So instead, this thoughtful Riolu called for reinforcements.

"_Grovyle, I need your help! Wherever you are right now, come here, where I'm communicating to you!_" It spoke using telepathy, knowing that Grovyle would be able to hear it.

Within _seconds_, a bipedal, grass green, medium-sized, gecko-like Pokémon—with yellow eyes and black pupils, a red underbelly, a green waistline on its belly, three leaves on its arms, and one long leaf on its head that's as long as itself and two leaves for a tail—emerged before the Riolu.

The species name of the Pokémon that arrived before it is Grovyle, a Grass-Type Wood Gecko Pokémon. It arrived to him via multiple acrobatic leaps across the branches of the trees, perfectly landing within feet from it.

_**(National Pokedex entry #253: Grovyle, the Wood Gecko Pokémon. It is a Grass-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 11" and weighs in at approximately 47.6 lbs. It lives in dense jungles, and while closing in on its prey, it leaps from branch to branch. This acrobatics is difficult to do for most in such a dense forest.)**_

"You called for something?" Grovyle said. The Wood Gecko Pokémon also noticed the wounded Riolu on the other Riolu's back, but didn't want to ask about that yet.

"Yes, I did," Riolu said, before it pointed over to the unconscious Absol right in front of it. "You see that Absol over there?"

Grovyle turned around and noticed the unconscious Absol, "Yes I do—wow!" The damage that that Absol endured, which was mostly concentrated to the face, caught up to Grovyle. "I can barely recognize it!"

"I know, right?"

"It almost lacks any familiarity to me," Grovyle placed one clawed hand on its chin, finding it difficult to compare this Absol to the one it remembers, the one where its face is _intact_.

"But it's still that same Absol," Riolu added. "It's the very same Absol that's always trying to hunt me down, trying to finish what it left behind."

"(I thought so…)" Grovyle thought. It then faced Riolu and the other Riolu on its back. "What's with the dark blue Riolu on your back?"

"We're short of time. I'll tell you later," Riolu said in a rushed manner, knowing that every second counts in terms of saving the wounded Riolu's life. "Right now, I need your help. Carry that Absol back with us."

Grovyle was left confused by the strange request given to it, not because it lacked the strength to lift it, but because that Absol has a history with this Riolu. "Why? Why do you want me to carry someone who's constantly seeking your death?"

"Because leaving it here in this condition just doesn't feel right to my conscience," Riolu spoke so fast that its words almost slurred. "Hurry up! This Riolu's losing blood fast! I can feel it dribbling off of me!" It jumped back up to the trees and leaped quickly across the branches back to its destination.

"Okay! Okay!" Grovyle quickly, albeit reluctantly, lifted the unconscious Absol and followed the two Riolu, not letting the weight of the facially-unrecognizable Disaster Pokémon slow its speed down.

Once Grovyle managed to catch up to the conscious Riolu, it began a conversation about that bleeding Riolu. "So what's the status quo with _that_ Riolu?"

"It has three slash marks on its torso and its right arm bone is sticking out of its skin," Riolu said, multi-tasking talking to Grovyle and jumping from branch to branch. "I also stepped on a puddle of its own blood when I was approaching it. I'm surprised that its heart is still _beating_, despite its significant blood loss!"

"How do you thing it got those injuries?" Grovyle almost lost its balance on a branch when jumping onto it, but it was minor nevertheless.

"Call this Riolu crazy, but I think that it _fought_ that Absol you're carrying."

"Wow…"

"Exactly!"

"It _is_ crazy." Grovyle added to its comment.

Riolu did the half-open eye look, not liking the fact that the Riolu it was carrying was mentally abnormal. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think you're wrong. This Riolu isn't crazy. It tried to fight that Absol…" Riolu quickly got a glimpse of the Absol, getting an adequate look at the damage dealt to its jaw area. "…and by the looks of how damaged its face is, I say this Riolu put up a lot of resistance." It tilted its eyes back briefly to the Riolu it was carrying and gave it a warm smile. A smile that was proof that it admired his potential, even if the Riolu that it was carrying doesn't know what the battle's outcome was.

Grovyle just uttered a dubious and monotone "Uh-huh," not believing the words directed to its lizard-like inner ears.

"No, I mean it! I'll bet you a week's worth of Lum berries that this Riolu actually fought that Absol." Riolu didn't give its bet a second thought, knowing that what it said was the truth.

Grovyle raised an eyebrow—or something close to an eyebrow, since it doesn't have any facial hair, only scales—, confused by the pseudo-biased bet that Riolu made. "You would bet a week's worth of Lum Berries over the slim possibility that this Riolu _hatchling_…" Grovyle briefly pointed to the Riolu it was talking about, pausing slightly, "…_actually_ put up a fight to this experienced and malicious Absol?" it pointed to the Absol on its back, almost losing its grip on it in the process.

"Yes." Riolu kept his answer concise, not needing to say anymore because it felt like it didn't need to.

Grovyle simply said "Whatever…" at the unnecessary bet.

"(He he heh…)," Riolu laughed in the solitude of its mind, while keeping a normal countenance on the outside. "(Try not to be so biased, Grovyle. Try to be a bit less cynical when you realize that you're wrong. And after all, that bet isn't for my personal gain…)"

* * *

><p><span>Estimated Time: Evening<span>

Riolu's Estimated Age: 12 Hours

The wounded Riolu woke up hours later after his fight with the malicious Absol. He found himself on a bed, within a tree house. This tree house was considerably different than most other tree houses in existence. For starters, this tree house was built_ within_ a tree, a relatively _massive_ tree. The tree utilized is tall enough to support two floors, with two bedrooms on the first floor and one more bedroom in the second floor.

Instead of getting up first, Riolu scanned his new surroundings, not exactly sure where he is—or whose house this belongs to. "(Where am I? How'd I get myself here?)" He thought and pondered his possible answers, which weren't many because his experience was, as of now, limited. What he's sure of for certain was the fact that he wasn't _dead_.

Deciding that this wasn't important at the moment, he just stared at the ceiling, pondering about the fight he had against that Absol. He remembered the ambush that it made, the RAZOR WIND attack it used, the QUICK ATTACK standoff they had, and the _painful_ claw swipe to his torso.

However, what happened after that, he couldn't recall. He figured he fell unconscious afterwards, but what he did exactly _before_ falling unconscious and after Absol's brutal claw swipe was temporarily mentally inaccessible.

Before he could put any more effort into trying to recall the finale of his battle, both Grovyle and the Riolu that carried him on its back noticed him awake and approached him.

"Well, look who's finally awake." The Riolu told him, getting his attention.

"It's about time. I was beginning to doubt your livelihood." Grovyle said to him with crossed arms.

Riolu leaned his head towards the two friendly Pokémon. "Who are you two?" He said with curiosity, and without sensing any hostility, a trait that he could rely on, especially since his instincts were correct when Absol was involved.

"Well you _should_ already know what kind of Pokémon I am, considering that we're of the same species." The Riolu told him.

"(I suppose so…)" He thought and nodded in approval of the other Riolu his eyes observed.

"But you can just call me by my nickname."

"Okay…" He agreed, "…and your nickname is…"

"Tiny," the identified Riolu said concisely. "I figured my nickname would identify us individually, since our fur color isn't distinct enough in this atmosphere."

Riolu looked at the different shade of color of his blue fur upon hearing Tiny's words, noticing how much darker the blue areas of his fur were compared to Tiny's. Afterwards, Riolu looked back and forth at the two Pokémon for a few times, examining their height in the process. Riolu erected its left paw—with the arm that _wasn't_ broken—and pointed it back and forth at both Pokémon.

"Your nickname… Is it because of how short you look compared to…?" He droned, not sure what the taller Pokémon was called, or if it had a nickname.

"Grovyle," It said. "My species name is Grovyle, and I don't have a nickname. What I _do_ have is this tree house that we're all residing in."

"My nickname isn't because of height juxtaposition," Tiny said, proving him wrong. "It's because I was born smaller in stature than your average Riolu."

"…I see…" Riolu said while retracting his left arm, taking a brief moment to absorb their words. "So, Tiny… Why do you live in Grovyle's home?"

"Because I don't have a home of my own and Grovyle was okay with letting me live here." Tiny spoke the truth without hesitation.

"As long as it does its share of the chores, I'm more than willing to share my home," Grovyle interrupted.

"Okay," He said concisely. Then, he tried to _lift_ himself upright, getting a nasty shock—and a reminder—of the wound on his torso and those on his right arm. It was also then that he realized that he had bandages on both areas.

The bandages are constructed out of a well woven plant-like matter that eerily resembled the nylon bandages used to wrap mummies in Egypt, only they were green in color, with traces of coagulated blood that seeped through them. There was also a well-made arm sling, made from the same material, keeping his right arm cast—wrapped in those same bandages with durable sticks to help realign the bones as they heal—in a comfortable position.

What he has yet to know is that Grovyle was forced to shave off the fur on those two areas, using LEAF BLADE to do so, to help those two areas heal without anything foreign causing interference.

Both Grovyle and Tiny received a shock at his sudden decision to get up. With widened blood-red—Tiny—and yellow—Grovyle—eyes, they quickly subdued him back onto the bed he was resting on, with each of them grabbing him by the arms.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"You're in no condition to be getting up so soon! You're still too injured to do so." Tiny shouted.

Riolu struggled somewhat, despising the idea of wasting time in bed, despite the fact that he was only about twelve _hours_ old, and clearly absent about his current condition. He was also feeling a sharp sting of pain emanating from his right arm because Grovyle was gripping it forcefully. "I don't care! Let me go!" He shouted with naiveté.

"NO!" They shouted in unison.

"YES!" Riolu yelled back, still struggling against their grasp.

"NO!"

"YES!"

"**NO!**"

"**YES!**"

"_**NO!**_" They shouted harder, subduing him harder.

"_**YES!**_" Riolu yelled back even harder, struggling even more against them.

"**WILL YOU TWO **_**SHUT THE HELL UP?**_" A familiar antagonistic voice boomed from behind all three of them, causing them all to stop what they were doing.

Still frozen with their current action, they rigidly turned their heads behind them, looking at the source of the voice.

The Absol, the very same one that Riolu fought against earlier, stood behind them. However, there was something clearly different about it. Its face was wrapped in the same green bandages that Riolu had. The only areas of its face that didn't have bandages on them were its eyes, forehead, ears, blade-like appendage, and the black "badge" on its forehead. The lower half of its face on the other hand, was heavily wrapped with bandages, with a slit cut into the bandages, where Absol's mouth was visible, so that it could eat—or attempt to. Beneath the bandages, there were well-placed and durable sticks wedged on its jaw area to keep the bones in alignment so that they heal properly.

"How can _anyone_ sleep with this much noise going on around here?" He spoke calmly now, and with a rigid jaw, because he was holding in the pain of his broken jaw bones grinding together.

Both of the blood-red eyes of the Disaster and the Emanation Pokémon widened at the sight of each other.

"You again!" They both shouted in rage, and then charged at each other, with Riolu easily slipping by Grovyle's and Tiny's grip, since they were temporarily rendered motionless.

Just as _another_ fight between them was about to occur they were suddenly halted by both Tiny and Grovyle. Tiny was grasping Riolu by the tail and Grovyle was doing so as well with Absol. With astonishing strength, they were both holding them back, and the two injured Pokémon _still_ wanted to mutilate each other's flesh apart, with teeth gritted—or in Absol's case, _fragmented_ teeth.

"Why won't you just die already?" Absol spitefully shouted. "I ought to kill you for what you did to my jaw!"

"Oh, disgusting! What's that thing on your _neck_?" Riolu said with a disgusted façade, and then smirked. "Oh no, wait! That's just your _face_!"

Absol didn't like the comment. Not one bit. It struggled even harder to free itself from Grovyle's clawed grasp, snarling somewhat in the process.

Luckily for Riolu's sake, Absol tried but didn't succeed. He just stood there, having come so close to having his face peeled by Absol's menacingly long claws, but was far enough away to avoid harm. "I thought you said you were going to _kill_ me?" He taunted. "Was it because I did that to your face?" Riolu only assumed, since the finale of his battle with the Disaster Pokémon was a blur.

Absol growled in rage, and then stopped, feeling that he won't succeed, mostly due to the Wood Gecko Pokémon restraining him by the tail.

"Are you two done already?" Grovyle had enough of this pointless fighting—and was also growing fatigued from holding Absol in place.

Absol fumed a bit with its breathing before stopping. "Yes… (For now, anyway…)."

"Likewise," Riolu sighed, feeling that another chance will come where they can settle this like combatants.

"So if we were to let you both go, will you two _promise_ not to try to kill each other?" Tiny said.

"I promise…" Riolu said, not liking the words he said, but was being sincere howbeit.

"Are you sure, because we can _easily_ put you both down if we sense any more hostility," Grovyle added.

"I promise…" Absol felt the words sting its mouth harder than the broken bones within.

After waiting a few seconds more, Grovyle and Tiny both watched closely at the silent white Pokémon, whom was just staring at the ground between its front paws. They turned their attention to Riolu, whom was rubbing his fractured arm. Both Pokémon restraints looked at each other and nodded.

Both Pokémon released their grip on Riolu's and Absol's tails, but they never dropped their guards. As Grovyle said, they were ready to subdue any attempt of possible carnage, and would likely succeed, with their combined experience.

However, to their surprise, both Pokémon were true to their word, despite their precarious vendetta. Riolu went back to his bed and sat down on it. Absol just lowered itself onto the ground which it stood on and rested there, having its forearms crossed and its blood-red eyes close.

"(I didn't think they'd be true to their word…)" Tiny thought, surprised at their choice in action.

"…I'll be right back," Grovyle said to Tiny, taking a few steps backwards, still dubious as to whether both Riolu and Absol would keep their word. "I'm going to go make some medicine for them both in the kitchen, Tiny. I'll be back here soon."

Tiny nodded in confirmation, allowing its decision to proceed.

"You sure you can keep them both in check by yourself?" It said in a concerned manner.

Tiny nodded once more. "Of course I can. But I don't need to. I don't sense any motives of hostility from their auras."

Riolu's ears twitched upon the hearing of the word "aura" and his mind was instantly filled with questions about it. He never heard of such a word before, and was curious as to what it meant.

Grovyle nodded back, and then walked off to his home's kitchen. "(You and your aura-related abilities…)" it thought, astounded by the natural aura capabilities of a Riolu.

Once Grovyle was out of sight, Riolu gave Tiny a question. "Hey Tiny, can I ask you a question?"

Tiny turned its head to face the curious Riolu. "Sure," it said without hesitating.

"What _exactly_ is aura?" Riolu's question was concise and straightforward.

Tiny looked up at the ceiling, pondering and gathering the right words to use to describe aura. "Let's see now… Aura is the field of energy that _everything_ in existence has, whether it's animate or not." It said with simultaneous detail and simplicity. "We Riolu and our evolved forms, Lucario, are capable of using aura as a weapon or a tool."

Once he heard what aura was, the last bit of his fight against Absol was brought back into him in a sudden jolt of recollection, leaving him wide-eyed without knowing, and leaving Tiny confused by his reaction.

* * *

><p>(Riolu's Flashback)<p>

_ Instead of showing fear to Absol's aggression, Riolu simply smirked at its anger-fueled stupidity. For a change of events, _it_ was the one defenseless, and not Riolu. "(If I'm going to die suddenly, I'll die fighting!)" Riolu fatalistically accepted death if his next attack were to fail him._

_ At the last possible split second of impact, a shock came to Absol. Right before it dealt the alleged finishing attack, Riolu somehow grasped Absol by the _neck_ with his blood-soaked left paw, _completely_ nullifying Absol's rage-fueled PURSUIT attack, leaving it more surprised than enraged now. Absol was now witnessing Riolu's smirk of confidence, as well as the blood-red eyes that seemed more intimidating with its current display of aura. Riolu's chokehold slowly cut Absol off of air, even though Riolu didn't want to try and kill Absol through suffocation._

_ With his free right paw, another impossible feat occurred to the Emanation Pokémon. The aura from his free paw condensed and swirled in a circular motion. Within seconds, a perfect sphere of swirling blue aura was born on the palm of his right paw._

_ Riolu was now using AURA SPHERE, a Pokémon technique that remains distant from its species, until they evolve._

_ "(What the hell?)" Absol thought in disbelief while simultaneously gasping and choking from an unintended lack of oxygen._

_ Molding his paw into a fist, with the AURA SPHERE not acting as a projectile, but as a _boxing_ glove, Riolu leaned his paw back wanting to deliver as much power as physically possible with this final attack that he strongly suspects will be his last._

_ Giving it the entire excess aura emanating from his body, he _punched_ Absol dead center in the jaw, unexpectedly creating a violent explosion that was overwhelming to _both_ Pokémon._

* * *

><p>(End of Riolu's Flashback)<p>

"Hey, are you okay?" Tiny said, snapping him out of his flashback.

"I'm fine…" Riolu blinked thrice, twitched slightly from the head, and then said with a normal countenance. "By the way, what kind of attacks can be used by us Riolu and by Lucario?"

Tiny recalled more words to concisely and accurately respond to Riolu's inquiry. "If I recall right, we Riolu are capable of using FORCE PALM, FORESIGHT, ME FIRST, and QUICK ATTACK. Lucario are capable of using more advanced techniques: BONE RUSH, DARK PULSE, DRAGON PULSE, EXTREMESPEED, METAL CLAW, and the most famous technique of them all, AURA SPHERE."

Once he heard the word "AURA SPHERE", his eyes widened to borderline popping out of their sockets. He now knew that his final offensive attack on Absol was in fact AURA SPHERE.

Tiny wondered why he was so surprised, then realized why with little mental comprehension. "You…you didn't." It said, not believing what Riolu did.

"I…think I…did," He said slowly. "I learned how to…and _did_ use…AURA SPHERE."

"…Then… You _must_ be a special Riolu, because it's absolutely _impossible_ for _any_ Riolu to be able to use such powerful aura-rooted attacks.

"My first AURA SPHERE…and I'm only a half a day old," He said in amazement. "(I wonder if I can still use that move….)" Riolu's thoughts drifted off.

Tiny whistled lightly at his power, then remembered the bet it made with Grovyle. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, ask away." He said, and then he got off of his bed and formed a battle stance, holding out his pristine left arm and left paw, and attempted to recall and mimic the emotions he felt that led to his powerful attack.

"How did you meet that Absol?" Tiny inquired, briefly looking at the Disaster Pokémon, as it was sound asleep.

"Zzz…" Absol snored lightly and in a muffled manner because its mouth was concealed by its crossed forearms.

"It ambushed me after jumping off of the tall trees above. It wanted to kill me mercilessly. I could sense that just by looking at its blood-red eyes." Riolu said, not taking his eyes off of his left paw. He was making various paw gestures, imagining that he was feeling how round the condensed ball of aura was. "I felt so apprehensive at first, and ran like _hell_ to escape a possible death." His paws were now flashing faintly at random areas above the palm because he was beginning to mimic the fear he felt earlier ago, and then began to gradually form a miniscule orb of aura that was no bigger than a seed. "I felt as if I was too young to die."

"Go on," Tiny said curiously.

"But it wouldn't let me flee without a fight," Riolu continued speaking. "It was then that I felt a courageous impulse and decided that—and I quote—, 'If I'm going to die suddenly, I'll die fighting!'" His miniscule seed-sized concentration of aura grew by double, to the size of a marble. The puny ball of aura was fueled by the courage that Riolu had felt earlier today. "We charged at each other using QUICK ATTACK."

Tiny was growing astonished by the fact that Riolu _did_ fight Absol. And it was a fight that could've easily been to the death for him. "Go on, please." Tiny wanted Riolu to continue with his story and stared at the aura on his paws, being optically drawn to it like a Venomoth to a flame.

"We locked heads for a fair amount of time upon impact, temporarily equal in power and stamina. Then, Absol began to lose stamina during the standoff." After saying that, his face wrinkled up and his snout did as well. The orb he was wielding suddenly grew even more from anger, to the size of an apple. "It was then that it inflicted this slash wound on my torso, so that it wouldn't lose the standoff and force me to stagger back in agony!"

Tiny was somewhat surprised at how suddenly the orb of aura that Riolu was wielding grew in size.

"It then catapulted me into the air, causing me to fly forty feet away from it and land on the dirt, leaving me briefly unconscious and bleeding a profuse puddle of blood." He stabilized his anger, knowing that he needs to let it go because he's still alive and existent, despite Absol's intentions.

Tiny then noticed the stem of the leaf that he shoved into his snout, "Why is there a leaf in your snout?"

Riolu forgot all about that leaf's existence and was left distracted by the realization of it. "It was for a nosebleed that I received when trying to get some Sitrus Berries from a high-up branch. I…the vine that I attempted to swing from broke off and I fell to the ground, snout-first."

With his injured paw, he removed the leaf out of his nose, temporarily ignoring the terrible feeling of broken arm bones rubbing together. He looked at the leaf, noticing that it wasn't green anymore, but dark red due to coagulated blood. He placed it in the sphere he was conjuring up, seeing it dart away the instant it made contact with the sphere. The leaf shredded into bits under the gale that the aura inflicted onto it.

"(Hmm… It must've fallen onto damp soil, to sustain only a nosebleed from a fall,)" Tiny thought briefly.

"So then, I got back up, trying to ignore the pain I felt, when in reality I couldn't." He gave the aura orb pain for fuel, causing it to grow as large as a grapefruit, similar in size to the AURA SPHERE he created for the first time in his life. "Absol became so enraged when I got up that it recklessly charged towards me, not stopping for anything, not even when my aura became so intense that it was visually visible in the form of a cloak."

Tiny was all ears, loving how the story of his battle was going.

"And to its surprise, I stopped it easily in its tracks when it was close enough by grabbing its neck with a vice-like grip that caused it to choke and gag," He curled up his paw, causing the AURA SPHERE to coat his fist and act like a boxing glove. "Then I clobbered Absol in the face with an AURA SPHERE punch!"

He got too carried away and launched a punch, causing the AURA SPHERE to fly surprisingly fast through the air and _explode_ on the wall that his bed was next to, leaving behind a somewhat round, two-feet-wide hole.

This attracted the attention of _all four_ Pokémon.

"What the hell was that?" Absol and Grovyle said in surprise and in unison. Grovyle came running to the blast area, hoping that both Riolu were okay. Absol was awakened by that explosion of the AURA SPHERE, and eyed Riolu suspiciously.

He stared at his paw in disbelief of his newfound power. "That, both of you, was an AURA SPHERE."

Grovyle couldn't help show astonishment at how a Riolu could use a technique that can only be learned once they evolve.

Absol on the other hand, pondered this: "(This pup's potential is impressive. I _may_ be looking forward to a fight to the death with this one once its power grows and when it eventually evolves,)" It hid a grin under its forearms that were also serving as pillows.

Grovyle then noticed the damage that Riolu's AURA SPHERE caused to its tree house wall. "My tree house! You blew a hole in the wall?"

"Look at the possibilities of this hole in the wall," He said with a grin and an upbeat tone. "You now have yourself a new window in your house."

Grovyle calmed down a little bit—a very _little_ bit—, but was still boiling mad. "None of the windows I have on my house are _this_ large!"

"Why's that?"

"It likes to keep this place warm and humid," Tiny told him basically.

"Well, maybe it's time for a change. Don't you think?" Riolu said, uncaring to Grovyle's frustration.

Reluctantly, the Wood Gecko Pokémon tilted his head down in defeat. "…Yes…You're right…" It said submissively and sighed with mild depression, reluctant of the thought of change in its home.

"(Finally, I can breathe much more _easily_ here!)" Tiny pondered in private, breathing and exhaling once, already noticing a sudden change in the air's humidity. "(I was getting sick of the suffocating humidity in here.)"

"(What an imbecilic Pokémon. The air outside is just as warm and humid as the air inside.)" Absol thought insultingly, yet was still watching the events fold out in front of it.

"…Thank…you…" Grovyle muttered, defeated.

"You don't have to thank me. There's no need to," he said, making it tilt its head back up in confusion. "The hole in your wall was just an accident that I was too naïve to prevent."

"(It still lacks experience of its newly-found aura abilities,)" The Disaster Pokémon pondered once more.

"I see…" Grovyle then went back to the kitchen room of its tree house, working on the finishing touches of its medicine. "(That Riolu is a rarity, I just know it. There's just no way that it can know AURA SPHERE before evolving.)"

After about ten seconds of silence, Riolu spoke up. "Hey Tiny, do you have any experience with aura-based abilities?"

"I have enough experience to utilize every known aura technique that a Riolu can use, and I'm sure that you'll learn these skills _easily_ when I teach them to you."

Riolu was surprised at Tiny's response, "Wow! I didn't even ask you yet if you _can_ teach me!"

"But you _were_ thinking it." Tiny smirked and Riolu's jaw dropped in awe. With its paw, it helped lift Riolu's jaw back in place and then told him this: "I'll be _more_ than happy to teach you what I know."

"Thank you!" He said, happily jumping up and down with glee with the naiveté of a child.

"However, you have to do all that I command and not complain or disregard it…" Tiny said in a serious tone. "….even if it proves challenging for you to perfect."

"You'll have my word," He said, almost instinctively.

"We'll start tomorrow; there are some techniques that you can learn in your current condition."

"Okay!"

They shook paws with a smile. Riolu used its left paw to shake paws with, wanting to avoid further discomfort.

Absol grinned once more under the shroud that was its forearms, "(Perfect… More experience means more of a worthwhile fight.)"

Grovyle came back with two wide and circular wooden plates on each clawed hand. On one wooden plate, there were two medium-sized wooden cups, each filled to the brim with medicine. On the other wooden plate, a surplus of Lum Berries resided, fastidiously stacked on top of each other in such a way that they will only fall off if tilted down enough.

Grovyle set both plates down on the bed that Riolu was using. "It's time for your medicine, the _both_ of you." It wrapped each cup of medicine with each clawed hand and gave one to Riolu.

Riolu didn't hesitate to grasp it with his left paw. Curious of what the green liquid was, he sniffed it briefly, getting a sense of its odor. It wasn't a terrible odor, it smelled of over-ripened fruit. But as to what kind of fruit it was exactly, he wasn't sure.

Grovyle described the medicine to him, seeing that he was obviously curious of it. "I made this medicine out of the very same Lum Berries that are on the other plate," it picked up one of the Lum berries from its place, briefly showed it to the curious Emanation Pokémon, and then placed it back in its original spot. "These Berries are famously known to help heal anyone from their abnormalities in an _instant_. If you drink this medicine daily, you'll be fully recovered before you know it."

Riolu was astounded by the fruit's power, "How does it work?"

"I've no idea." Grovyle said, not knowing the science as to how a Berry works its magic on its consumer.

"(Hmph,)" Absol mocked it in its mind.

"However, I do know this," Grovyle continued, "Any Berries' aiding potential is increased when it has _fermented_ somewhat."

Riolu gave his medicine one last look, and then swallowed it whole. He found the taste of the medicine to be _surprisingly_ delicious—a rare feat for _any_ medicine.

"What you just drank is fermented Lum Berry juice," Tiny said.

"It's delicious!" Riolu squealed happily at the medicine's delicious flavor. "(It's almost as delicious as Sitrus Berries!)"

"Delicious: yes. Helpful: also yes. However, there's only one side effect with fermented fruit." It said with a serious tone.

"And what would that be?" He curiously asked, being skeptical at how medicine can have a side effect if it's supposed to help heal the body.

"Fermentation ages the sugar and created alcohol. When a great enough quantity is ingested, you become…drunk."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He said, not sure what the word 'drunk' means.

"When you're drunk," Absol suddenly spoke, out of no particular reason, "your senses, personality, and skills are temporarily deteriorated."

"So it's a bad thing?" He said, not showing any signs as to why this Absol was talking to him.

"Only in large enough doses," It said, showing an unusual amount of advice given to a Pokémon that it wants dead.

Absol stood up, not seeing any more reason to rest. It then stretched all four of its limbs, dropping its upper back towards the ground, and twisted its head to the left and right, cracking the bones in its neck and shoulders in relief.

"…" Riolu just sat back down on his bed, having learned about alcohol.

"Thank you for the lesson, Absol," Grovyle said with half-open eyes, a false smile, and a sense of humor. "Now here's your reward." It held the other cup of medicine close to its face.

Absol looked at the medicine and gave it a spiteful scowl. "Get that juice away from my face. I despise Lum Berries. They always leave me a repulsive bitter aftertaste."

Riolu began to feel that mentioned taste invade his tongue. He smacks his lips a few times, and feels as though Absol is overreacting. "(It's not _that_ bitter...)"

"You _need_ to drink this to help accelerate your recovery!" Grovyle demanded, not accepting no for an answer. "If you don't drink this, you'll be on a liquid diet for weeks!"

"I don't care!" It argued. "I'll happily eat…drink _anything_ else than _that_ rotting piece of shit!" Absol corrected itself when it said "eat" when it didn't belong, because of its current constitution.

"(Arceus, I don't have time for this!) Drink it!" Grovyle was growing impatient at Absol's defiance.

"Hell no!"

They kept on repeating themselves for a minute, exchanging different opinions, without _either_ one of them wanting to lose the verbal fight.

Riolu was becoming more and more irritated by each second of shouting going by. He felt that if he didn't so something about this, he'd be driven mad out of annoyance.

He got up off of his bed and swiped the medicine from Grovyle's grasp—somehow keeping the entire liquid in the cup as it violently swished opposite of the direction that it was swiped at—, then gave a swift, stalwart stomp onto Absol's right forepaw—the _very_ same paw that gave him the repulsive wound on his torso—, hiding the fact that he struck the paw that slashed at his torso.

Immediately, Absol opened its mouth wide and shouted in pain, then shouted even louder when it felt the painful grinding bones of its broken jaw rub and slice at the flesh on its mouth.

Completely ignoring the scream that would make an Exploud envious, he poured the entire cup of fermented Lum Berry juice in its gaping mouth, gave the wooden cup back to Grovyle—whom just realized Riolu's snatching of the medicine cup—, slapped Absol in the back of its neck, forcing it to stop screaming and swallow, and then sat back down on his bed with a casual countenance, acting like he didn't do anything at all in the first place. This left both Grovyle and Tiny shocked at his choice of action, and a bit more at his solemn countenance.

Absol gagged and coughed at its revulsion of the medicine, especially because a bit of it went into its trachea. "What the (*cough*) (*cough*) hell was (*gasp*) that for? (*cough*) (*cough*) (*wheeze*)" Absol coughed up droplets of the Lum Berry medicine onto the wooden floor of Grovyle's tree house, as well as a fair amount of phlegm.

"You wouldn't obey such a simple action." He said, maintaining his serious façade, resisting the urge to smile _and_ laugh out loud.

"Grr! (Why you little runt!)" It growled and thought in anger, then simmered down as quickly as it grew angry. Positioning itself in a more upright pose, it faced both Grovyle and Tiny in tandem. "Can both of you leave this room?" It said with surprising calmness. "I want to speak in private with this one," it stared at Riolu, leaving him somewhat puzzled at its motives.

Tiny discreetly used its aura abilities to access Absol's minds and invade its thoughts, "(I don't sense any hostility from it. Only the desire to negotiate…)" It then read Absol's reason, wondering why it wanted to make such an unusual decision, "(…Why go and _do_ that?)," Tiny thought, but decided to keep that to itself for now. "Okay," Tiny said with unusual seriousness, then walked away from this room.

Before Grovyle could say anything, the decision that Tiny made was enough to stun Grovyle. It left the room as well, speechless and momentarily discombobulated.

Once they were gone from view, and the only two visible beings in this room were Absol and Riolu, their tête-à-tête began.

"I don't know what you want to tell me, but I have a strong sense that it's important," Riolu said, suspecting an important conversation.

All it did was nod, but not in a normal way. It nodded in a slower, more ominous manner, with a serious glare on its face, masked underneath a layer of bandages.

"(I thought so.)" He picked up one of the Lum Berries, not because he wanted to eat it, but because he just wanted to feel its texture, out of curiosity. Still having his eyes locked onto Absol's face—or to be more accurate, the bandages _on_ its face—, he said while rubbing the Lum Berry in his paws, "So what is it that you wanted to tell me _alone_?"

"I wanted to say that your potential is incredible and your power is impressive," it said, enduring the bitter taste the words left in its mouth—alongside the bitter aftertaste of the Lum Berry medicine. "I'll admit that I respect that about you."

"Thanks, I guess…" He droned, confused at its behavior.

It then wrinkled its forehead into a more serious position, "That doesn't mean that I want you alive. I'll kill you, one of these days."

He sweated a little, silent at its desire to _still_ want to kill him. With a bit of fear in his voice, he said "W-why?" in an abated tone, not wanting to show fear to it.

"My preferred combat style is to the _death_," It said with a perfectly serious tone in its somewhat muffled voice. "It has been like so and will always remain like so, until the day I die, likely in the middle of a battle. That's all that I care about in this world. I don't care about family or friends or memories. I only want to kill."

Riolu remained silent, fearing that he wouldn't control the tone of his voice, were he to speak against this.

"One of these days…in the _future_, because you're still too naïve, and you lack necessary control with your newfound aura abilities."

"…True…" Riolu spoke reluctantly, admitting to his naiveté.

"You're not even a day old yet. You're still a neophyte, inexperienced in your combat skills and with your aura. You need enough time to hone your skills, master your aura abilities," It said, and then smirked. "And speak with a competent tone of voice."

"Grr! (Why I ought to shut this guy up right now!)" He thought with gritted teeth and clenched fists, which easily crushed the Lum Berry he was holding, letting its juices spill all over his paws and onto his lap. "What the…?" He noticed the crushed Berry and rubbed off his soaked paws on the bed, pissed off even further.

"Your personality could use some work as well." Absol looked at Riolu's squalid lap, eyeing the Lum Berry juice that was just excreted by Riolu's grip. "Some self-development in character should come easy for you with age."

Riolu was drying himself off as he heard Absol speak. He nodded to it to make sure that it knew that he was paying attention.

"That's good to know," it nodded and spoke simultaneously. "Once your aura abilities mature, you evolve into a Lucario, and grow accustomed to your new body as if it were your old body, we'll have our mortal rematch, since our first match was left incomplete via interference from _Tiny_."

Riolu nodded with a serious countenance. "Enjoy your life until then." He spoke with a dark smile.

"As should you," Absol returned the favor, before doing an about-face and proceeding to walk outside of this room, only to stop midway in the entrance. "And don't think for one second that _you're_ the only one who'll get stronger," it didn't look back at him when it said those words.

"I know."

It briefly smirked to itself before leaving the room. On its way across the hall, it noticed both dismissed Pokémon _eavesdropping_ from behind the wall. They were too focused with their current action that once they noticed the Disaster Pokémon to their sides, they jumped up so high in surprise that they both hit their heads onto the ceiling.

"Ow…I think you gave me a concussion…" Tiny rubbed his head in pain.

"(I feel _something_ dripping off of my head…)" Grovyle groaned, holding the impacted area of its head with one clawed hand. Briefly, it let go of its head and glanced at its paw, not shocked at the sight it foreshadowed. It saw blood, but fortunately, it wasn't a lot of it for the Wood Gecko Pokémon to show concern over.

Absol just gave them both blank glares. "You've both heard enough, haven't you?" It said with the sense of knowing that they would eavesdrop.

"You _knew_ we were eavesdropping all along?" Tiny spoke up.

"I heard you both stop midway, then walk backwards in a few stifled steps." It began to drone in a boring, uncaring manner. "My species have very proficient senses of hearing, despite the fact that our ears are oddly formed." It gave two brief looks to its left and right ears, but mostly to its right ear—or to be more precise, its right "ear". "My left ear is concealed under my white fur and my right ear is this black crest-shaped appendage of mine."

"(You learn something new every day,)" Grovyle thought, having no idea.

"Now if you'll be intelligent enough to stay away from my path, I need to go get some rest." It walked past them both and reached its destination: its room, or at least one that it chose to claim as its own. The bed in there was quickly put to use and the Disaster Pokémon made itself comfortable on it.

"(At least you all know what I want now and appear to respect that decision. It will easily make it that much easier for you all to discuss and fathom it.)" Those were the last thoughts it created in its mind before closing its eyes and falling asleep. Its last action for the day was form a smile of satisfaction, a foreshadowing symbol of the battle it wants with Riolu.

Both Pokémon disregarded it for now and proceeded to Riolu's room.

* * *

><p><em>A few minutes of discussion later…<em>

Grovyle, Riolu, and Tiny finished their review discussion. They remained briefly in "The Thinker" poses, puzzled by Absol's desire.

"I guess there's little I can do about it, huh?" Riolu said, breaking his stance. "I'm going to have to fight it to the death."

"I guess so…" Tiny nodded.

"If that's what you wish…" Grovyle agreed.

"But not until my aura abilities mature and I evolve into a Lucario," he then fixed his pose and remained upright, since the arm he was using to hoist his chin up was his fractured right arm. "But how do I evolve?"

"From what I know, you need to have reached two requirements before evolution. You require a certain level of happiness, as well as the light of day to shine on your fur," Grovyle described.

"However," Tiny added to its description. "You can't evolve by simply _pretending_ to be happy. You have to be felling _true_ happiness, from the bottom of your heart, in order to evolve."

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard for me." Riolu got up and off his bed. He turned his attention to Tiny, "After all, thanks to you, my future is all set."

Tiny couldn't help but smile, "Your welcome."

Before Riolu forgets, he added one more thing "And thank you for the interference with the fight between Absol and I. I doubt that I would've survived if I was left alone to fight it."

"Don't mention it," Tiny said simply.

"If it's possible, I'll teach you what _I_ know," Grovyle said, felling like a third wheel. "However, I have my doubts that you'll be compatible with my kind of move set. The techniques that I know are of a different class than the aura-based techniques that Tiny has at its disposal."

"Thank you, Grovyle. But I have this strong feeling that I'll not have any problems learning from you. You'll most likely be impressed with my unknown potential."

"…" Both Grovyle and Tiny were left discombobulated.

Riolu looked outside of the new window it made, noticing that the sun had hidden itself behind the horizon, with small waves of light escaping after it disappeared. It was the evening, and the ambience of the forest began to die down. "It's time to go to bed now, isn't it?"

"No, it's time for breakfast." Grovyle said sarcastically.

"Really?" Riolu said curiously.

Grovyle shook its head and grinned, resisting its urge to laugh at his gullibility.

Somehow, he realized that what Grovyle did was use sarcasm on him and was left a little confused. He covered himself completely with the bed's blanket, curled up into a ball and fell asleep rather quickly—despite the fact that he was already asleep earlier today—, snoring lightly in the process.

After a few seconds of making sure that Riolu was sound asleep, Grovyle remembered the plate of Lum Berries—unaware that one was crushed and discarded—and, like a chain of memories, that memory guided its mind to the memory of the bet it made involving the Berries. "Now, about our bet…"

"You lost," Tiny said concisely and bluntly.

"…I think that this Riolu lost—what?"

"You lost," It repeated.

"I lost?"

"It told me everything about its fight, especially the part where it punched and _broke_ Absol's jaw with an AURA SPHERE."

Grovyle looked at the floor in defeat, "I lost, didn't I?" it said in a feeble voice.

Tiny simply nodded.

"…" Grovyle let a minute of silence go by before shrugging its shoulders and saying "Oh well…victory isn't always in my reach…" in an unusually happy tone.

"…Don't lie to me. I can still sense your despair…" Tiny read its mind.

"Damn it!" Its façade was easily overcome by Tiny.

"If it makes you feel any better, these Lum Berries aren't for me," It gave one look at the curled-up newborn. "I want them all to be for this Riolu, as a reward for its hard-fought battle."

Grovyle was a bit confused by Tiny's choice of what to do with the Lum Berries, but instantly grew to respect that decision. "Well, they're _your_ Berries now, so what you choose to do with them is entirely up to you."

Tiny grabbed the wooden plate with the Berries resting on it and moved it over to the side. "I know."

Grovyle gave one nod and then looked outside of the window. "We should probably go get some sleep as well. Tomorrow is a big day for all of us."

"Including that hostile Absol?" Tiny said before getting up.

"Unfortunately, yes," It said reluctantly.

"I see."

With those final words, they both went to their own separate beds. Grovyle fell asleep immediately on its own bed. Tiny on the other hand, it was deep in thought on its own bed. It spent half the night staring at the wooden ceiling in its room.

"(Why did that Absol decide to fight that Riolu instead of me? More importantly, what did it see in that Riolu that caused it to disregard me instantly?)" Those were the last words it thought before falling asleep.

As it slept for the remainder of the night, its fists curled up tightly and its eyelids wrinkled soon after falling asleep. Something was troubling its thoughts as it was asleep. As to what however, was something personal, a connection that involved it and that Absol.

* * *

><p>"The only difference between a warning and a threat is whether you're the person giving it or the person receiving it." —Orson Scott Card (459) ("<em><span>Xenocide<span>_")

* * *

><p>Compared to my first chapter, this easily had the better start of the two.<p> 


	3. Prologue (Part II (2))

It's noce to know that my FanFic has been receiving attention. I almost reached 50 hits within 15 days.

I also got my first review, from Kalakar.

Whoever you are, rest assured of this: I intend to not only _finish_ my story, but go beyond.

Far, far beyond.

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue (Part II (2)): The GSS <strong>**(Grand Storage Sphere)**

_Three years later…_

It has been three painfully-long years since three teenagers—Costas, Ian, and I—lost their parents. The mental and emotional scars of our minds are still mending and healing, but they haven't fully recovered, and for one primary reason: We haven't encountered the Roman General _responsible_ for their deaths.

Mercury remains at large, in the little black book within my erudite mind.

All three of us still mourn for them, albeit in different ways. Costas and Ian still cry on the day that both of them are supposed to arrive in—if they're still alive today.

As for me, I merely think of them, except I can't seem to cry. I am _capable_ of crying mind you, and my tear ducts aren't damaged, removed or shriveled from lack of use. I just don't _seem_ to cry about this matter, and my parent's death _does_ matter to me.

I just can't put my finger on this odd phenomenon of mine.

* * *

><p><span>Date: May 2<span>nd, 49 A.D.

Time: 2:39 AM (Night)

Eduardo's Age: 16 years, 3 months, and 29 days old

Costas's Age: 16 years, 6 months old 

Ian's Age: 16 years, 6 months old

I was present within my laboratory tonight, currently working in the middle of developing one of my greatest inventions yet. An invention so complicated, so painstakingly difficult to create that only I was _close_ to capable of manufacturing it.

And in reality, I _am_ close to capable of making it.

What the device that I'm currently creating requires is something I've never attempted to form: a black hole.

I've spent approximately a total of six months, as of today, on the invention. Through trial and considerable error, I attempted to _form_ a black hole. I was having such difficulty forming what was needed to create one—an object of such immense mass that it would collapse onto itself and tear a rift in the air it exists in.

However, after many sleepless nights—and even more failed ideas, concepts, and attempts later—, I believe I've found the solution to this arduous task, and I literally couldn't wait until morning to put it into action.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Testing Room)<span>

All three of us were in the Testing Room of my laboratory. It was a room similar in dimensions as that of a school auditorium. However, unlike a school auditorium, this room didn't have chairs with an eager audience or a stage where the trained performers entertain. The only thing this room had were the lights on the ceiling, the clear white paint job on all six sides, and the protective testing balcony connected to both the ceiling and a side wall.

However, on _this_ day—May 2nd, 49 A.D.—, all three of us were in that bulwark of a protective cage, staring downward at a peculiar machine. This machine of my creation consisted of three main segments: a center cabinet-like container and two electricity generators on its sides, capable of fully emulating the multi-million-volt charges that a thunderclap possesses and maintaining that charge for as long as necessary. The generators connected to the cabinet-like structure via _extremely_ high-voltage wires.

Within the cabinet-like structure, two hidden storage ports reside above and below the inner structure. A thick pane of bullet-proof glass was the only window on that center segment. Through that window, only a round spherical rock, equal in size to a ping-pong ball, remained suspended in the center via anti-gravitation—an absolute necessity for this experiment.

"Why are we in this cage again?" Ian complained in a groaning, fatigued tone.

"I've already told you, Ian. I think I've got a successful solution this time," I said with hope.

"You've said that 159 times already…" Costas was sitting on the ground, tired and bored. "…And in all of those times, the end result has _ended_ in failure, and it's always been that way for the past six months."

"And as of _now_, I've said that 160 times." I stared at the machine that was lying there in the center of this room, hoping that it will work today. "But this time, and unlike the other 159 failed attempts, I know for sure that it'll work."

"Uh-huh, sure…" Ian said with cynicism, resisting the urge to close his eyes and shake his head in a slow, dubious manner.

From the left pocket of my blue jeans—I created _clothing_ as well and not just technological devices—I pulled out a remote controller, one which only serves two main purposes: generating a black hole and _containing_ it. I grinned with the feeling that this time, I'll be right and successful…and they'll be wrong.

With one push of the button on the remote control, the machine began to charge power from the electric generators adjacent to it. The crackling of electricity immediately filled the Testing Room. To the relief of my sensitive ears, the balcony that we resided in was somewhat sound resistant.

Costas tapped Ian's shoulder, wanting to attract his attention and his alone.

"What is it?" Ian sat down beside Costas and leaned his head in closer to listen better.

"I'll bet you my short sword replica that his experiment will fail."

"His experiment will _unanimously_ fail, like it has the other 159 times," Ian looked at me, making sure that I wasn't looking back at them. "I'll bet you my bow replica if it fails, and then _explodes_ catastrophically." He extended out his right hand, prepping himself to seal the deal.

"It's a deal," Costas shook his hand with a smile.

I formed a serious countenance on my face, and then faced my adopted brothers. "Have you _both_ forgotten that my sense of hearing is borderline superhuman and I can hear whatever you're whispering?" I said in frustration.

They didn't seem to care that I was pay attention to their conversation.

I received their silence as an insult to my work. My frustration climbed up a bit more, causing me to shout a little. "Okay then! How about this:" I paused for a brief moment before continuing with this cliché: if you can't beat them, join them. "I'll bet my custom spears of mine against _your_ short sword," I pointed at Costas, then to Ian, "and _your_ bow!"

I breathed one full breath and calmed down minutely.

"If my experiment _fails_ (and it won't this time…), then you'll _each_ get _one_ of my custom spears." I concluded by lifting one finger before crossing my arms behind my torso.

Now I had their attention. I could tell because they both turned their heads to face me and nodded in agreement.

I nodded back, still maintaining a serious facial appearance, and then I re-faced the machine. "(They've already lost this bet…)" I thought.

Once the machine had enough electricity charged up, I pressed one button in the center of my remote control. One second passed, and the inside of the cabinet-like structure of the machine flashed brilliantly with the light of millions of volts. The lightning was consistent, and bathed the spherical rock in massive amounts of electricity.

This was the point, because the electricity would continue to multiply the weight of the targeted object to near-infinity. Once the weight exceeded what the surrounding field of space would support, a black hole will form.

Costas and Ian were watching what was occurring, but were becoming bored with the tediousness of waiting.

"What are you trying to do this time?" Ian got up and told me.

"For starters: A new tactic," I said concisely.

"He knows that, you know that, I know that…" Costas got up as well and stretched his fatigued muscles a bit. "We _all_ know that it's something n—"

"If you want me to be less vague, you could've simply said so." I interrupted him, growing tired of their lack of confidence in me.

"…Fine…" He responded back mildly spitefully.

"Anyway…what I'm trying to do this time to form a black hole is to—"

"Zap that rock with electricity?" Ian interrupted me, thinking that he was right with his guess.

"Well…yes. But there's more to it with the electricity," I told him. "What the electricity is _actually_ doing is energizing a specific material that changes weight in terms of power injected within it, thus gradually increasing the rock's atomic mass."

"Which means…?" He attempted to hide the fact that he didn't know what I just said.

"The rock's molecular structure and density is _rising_."

"…" He took a few seconds to fully understand what I was doing. "So what you're doing is increasing the overall weight of that stone by zapping it with lightning?"

Without looking back, I simply nodded.

"So… How much more do you want that stone to weigh?" Costas began another conversation.

I gave a brief glimpse to my machine, knowing that something is happening, despite the somewhat believable façade that nothing is going on. "It'll take as much as it takes to cause it to collapse under its own weight and materialize a black hole."

"And how much does that rock have to weigh to produce one?"

"Hmm…" I gave one brief glimpse to the LCD screen on my remote control. That screen revealed the weight of the rock to me at this current moment. As of now, that rounded stone weighs hundreds of _millions_ of tons, and it's exponentially gaining weight for every second that goes by.

(To put this into perspective, one spoonful of neutron star material weighs about one _billion_ tons under Earth's gravity.)

"As of now, it's over hundreds of millions of tons. And by my calculations, if I want it to produce a black hole, I need it to weigh about…" I paused to calculate the approximate weight that the rock needs to be at to collapse. "…tens of _billions_ of tons."

"…Wow…" Both of them muttered in disbelief.

"We should be able to see a black hole form within minutes," I said with hope.

Once I said that, both of my brothers gave each other one brief glimpse and formed a worried face, for they were beginning to doubt themselves and thought that they'll lose their bet to me.

As the seconds went by and the LCD screen continued to measure higher and higher increases in weight, I was beginning to tap my feet rhythmically in tedious impetuosity.

A drop of nervous sweat rolled down my right cheek. I was feeling unsure of what'll happen once the rift in space forms. Why? Because from what I've learned about black holes in my dreams, they had this immense gravitational pull that was so powerful that it can even pull in _light_. Alongside this ominous fact, there were super-massive black holes in the cosmos, one residing within the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

However, from my dreams, I've learned the solution as to how to contain a black hole, the key ingredient in the exterior structure of my new invention.

The LCD screen read "1,000,000,000" in terms of weight and was growing fast.

I knew there was no turning back now. A black hole would form, and I would need to brace myself.

Once the LCD screen on my remote control read over tens of billions of tons, the round rock suspended by an anti gravity device instantly _disappeared_ within itself, leaving nothing of itself behind. An eerie sound of sucking noodles was audible, or perhaps it was merely a figment of my imagination.

Just as I was about to have another thought about how my 160th attempt at creating a black hole failed, the black hole that I wanted to create actually _began_ to form.

A dip in the field of reality that was once that rock formed and began to spin around in a clockwise direction. The lightning within the container began to swirl around the black hole before it became assimilated, the gravitational force being great enough to _bend_ lightning and have it _spiral_. The black hole appeared to maintain a stable, small appearance that stayed within the confines of its vending machine.

"…" I was rendered absolutely speechless at this extraterrestrial occurrence.

"…I don't believe it…" Ian couldn't take his eyes off of the sight that people wouldn't ever be able to see until the late 20th century—and only though falsifications from computer animations.

"…Neither can I…" Costas's eyes were firmly glued to this celestial sight.

"…I…I can't believe it…" I fought against my speechlessness. "…My 160th attempt…is successful…"

For a moment, the only feeling that I felt across my body was that of accomplishment. I couldn't feel my legs, I couldn't feel my arms, and I couldn't feel anything else physically. All I could hear was my heartbeat in my ears, my breathing, and the creaking of our protective bulwark.

…_Creaking?_

Before I could proceed with my next step for my invention, I heard and saw the reinforced glass on my machine shatter, and then I saw shards of glass swirl around the black hole before being swallowed whole by its overwhelming gravitational pull. The cabinet-like structure and electric generators _weren't_ assimilated however. They simply remained stable, the generators turning off automatically when their electricity was no longer needed.

"Uh-oh… This can't be—"

Before I could finish my sentence, the _entire_ front wall and the _entire_ floor of our constructed bulwark fell apart. Afterwards, it was instantly stretched under the gravitational pull, and then it was devoured whole by the black hole.

As for the three of us, practically out of reflex, we grabbed onto something as an attempt to not get sucked into the rift in this room. Without even realizing it until after a few seconds of near-horizontal "falling", I was holding onto Costas's left ankle with my left hand and holding on to the remote control with my right hand. Costas himself was hanging onto Ian's right ankle with both hands and Ian was hanging onto the handle of the only entrance to the bulwark-like cage: the door.

Fortunately, for all of us, the door's handle was one of those long ones that stretched across the door's surface, and is simple to grip onto with both hands.

"How did we get ourselves into this mess?" Ian shouted rhetorically over the gust of wind that the black hole was creating with its gravity.

"How should _I_ know?" Costas did the same, only in a more frustrated tone, because he knew the answer to his question: me. "Ask the guy who _isn't_ holding onto you for dear life!"

"He doesn't need to!" I shouted to Costas. "The solution to our problems…!" I smirked before lifting the remote control that I _still_ had on my right hand, finding the gravitational pull impressive because I struggled to lift it. "…They are solved with the push of a button on my remote—"

A piece of paneling on the wall peeled off, and then it flew towards the black hole, but not before it collided with the remote control in my hand, and then they were both stretched out and swirled into the black hole.

"…control?" I muttered feebly, no longer holding the only tool in my arsenal that could save us.

Both brothers were beside themselves with a mixture of anger and apprehension, because they think that I've doomed us all.

"You've doomed us all, Eduardo!" Ian shouted and struggled to keep his gradually decreasing grip on the door handle.

"We're dead! We're all freaking dead!" Costas shouted to me and actually _attempted_ to shake me off of his foot in frustration, but I wasn't changed in the least.

"We're too young to _die_ now!" Ian panicked as both of his pinky fingers detached themselves from the door handle.

"We're only sixteen years old!"

I wasn't screaming or doing anything they were doing in anyway whatsoever. It was as if I was acting in the exact opposite manner that my brothers are acting. And instead of wasting my time—or my voice—screaming to the wind, I was staring at the ominous black hole and was quickly thinking of a way to reach the remote control.

"(If I remember perfectly from my dreams, black holes don't destroy objects despite the fact that they make them stretch to seemingly impossible proportions, they only carry them through it and to a new dimension, a place with infinite room for storage. My primary reason in manufacturing this black hole is…)"

I searched through my back pocket for a tool that would help me contain that dangerous and helpful rift.

"(…to have a tool that has no limit in storage space.)"

I found that tool and pulled it out. Upon closer examination, the tool was a hexagonal prism-like wooden stick with an orange coat of paint, "#2" on the side, a sharp front end with a graphite cylindrical core, and a pink, rubber-like substance on the other end that attached to the overall stick via a metal coil.

To put it simply, I was holding a #2 pencil to my notepad on my other back pocket.

"What are you going to do with that pencil?" They both shouted to me when they noticed what I was doing.

I didn't answer to them at all, for I'd rather demonstrate an action than describe it verbally.

I gripped the pencil as if it were a dart, lined it up to the center of the black hole, and with one quick jerk of my arm, I flung the pencil with incredible precision. The pencil flew straight through the center of the black hole, minimizing spiraling via gravitational interference, which would've easily ruined its accuracy.

Once inside, the pencil navigated its way through total darkness and it _somehow_ found its way to the remote control. It was almost as though the lit LCD screen on the remote control lured the #2 pencil towards it. Without fail or a second attempt, the pencil struck the button on the remote control that I wanted it to.

The instant that both hidden hatches on the top and bottom ends of the cabinet-like structure opened, I knew I was successful with my fluke of marksmanship.

I made one small, yet proud smirk on my face. "(Perfect…)" I thought.

Both hatches exposed two five-fingered claws, with each of them gripping onto two hemispheres of a whole sphere. Both halves had internal mirrors, fused with sophisticated circuitry that was designed for one purpose: to contain and preserve the black hole.

The top half of the hemisphere was painted a metallic gold color, possessing the letters 'GS' above a button on its center. The bottom hemisphere was painted a metallic silver color and had a shaved off circular area on its edge for where the button on the top hemisphere goes. As for its composition, both halves _were_ made of the metals that they were painted based on, but they had more to their composition than that, as well as the high-tech circuitry-imbued mirrors inside them.

Far more…

In a matter of seconds, both halves were fused together. I could tell because I saw a flash of light shine off all around the edges of the orb, leaving a black "ring" all around it and around the button on its center. With the final step in the machine's programming complete, both claws retracted back and the compartments that kept them hidden closed so fast that the black-hole-containing orb fell to the closed lower base, the anti-gravitational technology shutting off immediately.

All three of us were in disbelief and rendered speechless. Also we were _still_ hanging horizontally, and so when the black hole was contained…

_**CRASH!**_

…we fell fifteen feet _down_ to the floor.

We were shockingly all free of lasting injury, despite the fall. In an instant, I got back up on my feet, ignoring the stiff, bruised, and sore feeling I had after falling from this height and hobbled away from my groaning brothers, towards my orb of black, gold and silver. I picked it up off of its perch and stared at it dead center, right between the 'G' and 'S' letters.

"…My first 'S-Rank' invention…" I smiled and let one tear of joy roll down my left cheek. "…My first…of a new series." I stood still and continued to gaze at the lustrous orb, admiring its beauty, as well as potential. It felt metallically smooth to the touch, and seemed to have a mild gravitational field on it—likely from the black hole contained within it.

After saying those words that came from my mouth and _my_ mouth alone, both brothers of mine weakly, yet willfully got themselves back up on their feet, and then they rubbed the areas on their bodies inflicted with moderate injury in an effort to help diminish the pain.

"(*Groan*) I think I landed on my arm…" Ian groaned and clutched his left arm as if he had a gunshot wound on it. He was lucky to find out that it wasn't broken, but terribly sore.

"You have it lucky, Ian…" Costas moaned and clutched his head. "I landed on my head…again!" He rubbed the crown of his head, considering himself lucky that his head hit the floor only _after_ the rest of his body had taken most of the force.

They both turned their heads over to face me once they noticed where I was. They both were somewhat discombobulated at how statue-like still I was. Ian was the first to break free of his confused state of mind and spoke to me. "How about you, did you suffer anything from falling so high?"

"…" I was stuck in a trance by the roundness of the gold/silver sphere.

"Eduardo?" Ian attempted to obtain my attention once more.

"Huh? What?" I heard a voice from somewhere, which broke me from my trance, and then I scanned all around me, and found the source of the voices. "Oh, uh… Well…I only suffered a few bruises on my knees and arms. It's only minor." I said, revealing the resilient nature of my personality. I then showed them my newest invention and tossed it in the air a few times, getting a feel for its unusual lack of weight, despite the heavy items that it had assimilated earlier.

"I see…" Ian said concisely, but had a different say in his thoughts. "(Eduardo was always so resilient and steadfast.)"

"Why don't you give that new invention of yours a test? You should make sure that it works properly." Costas gave me a suggestion.

"You don't have to tell _me_ twice," I told him with a smirk.

I turned the button on the orb's center upside down, aimed it away from us all, and pressed the button on it once to open it, exposing the black hole. Only, there was a difference with it. For starters, because I turned the button on the orb upside down, the black hole's polarity swapped. Its clockwise rotation became counter-clockwise. It became a _white_ hole—a rift in space that _expels_ matter.

In a few seconds, everything that the black hole devoured was instantly expelled with a forceful outward gale. I saw the wall paneling come out, glass shards from the black hole machine, my remote control, the remains of the balcony bulwark, and the expertly-tossed pencil used to contain the black hole. Once all of that was done, I closed the orb and set the button on its center back to how it once was, then I turned around to face my brothers.

Just as I thought, both of my brothers had their jaws agape in disbelief, and they couldn't close them. I walked over to them and closed their jaws myself as a selfless act of supporting others.

"Thanks," they said simultaneously.

"You're welcome," I said back.

Suddenly, Ian spoke upon realization of something about the orb and the machinery used to form the black hole. "Hey, how come when the black hole was assimilating everything around it, why couldn't it suck up that shell you put over it and the machinery used to create it?"

"…" I stared at the lights on the ceiling and thought of the words I should use to explain to them. "The machinery that was used to create the black hole," I gave a brief glimpse to my new invention, "as well as the shell on this storage device was built with a material that you get when you fuse _all_ of the elements into one substance." I paused briefly to picture how the substance looks like normally. "For some reason, the substance's normal structure resembles that of metal with the smoothness of a diamond, but it easily _exceeds_ a diamond's structure. It will not break, shatter, dent, collapse or even scratch. It won't be succumbed to heavy gravitational pull. It won't ever melt, freeze, decay, or rust to obliteration. It's everlasting." I finished describing it and held in the proud accomplishment feeling of creating something superior.

"Wow…" They both said in unison once more.

"Did you give that stuff a name?" Costas curiously inquired.

"Unfortunately, no," I admitted. "I just can't seem to find the proper name for it, at the moment."

"What about your new toy? Did you give a name to that?" Ian wondered.

"As a matter of fact, I did. Because it's the first of my 'S-Rank' inventions, I find it appropriate to christen it this: the S1-GS."

"…" Ian was a bit confused by my choice of name. "…And what does _that_ mean?"

"Well, the 'S1' stands for the first of many 'S-Rank' inventions, and the 'GS' is an abbreviation for 'Grand Storage'."

"Can't you give your new toy a better-sounding name? Or at least can't you give it a nickname to use instead of its _actual_ name?" Costas came in with words.

"You mean a nickname like…Grand Storage Sphere…or something?" I made it up off of the top of my head.

"…" He was processing the nickname I said and formed a grin. "_That'll_ work."

"I agree," Ian said. "That nickname is perfect."

"Okay then. So as of today, this device will be identifiable by two names and two names only: S1-GS and Grand Storage Sphere," I said. "Agreed?"

"Agreed," They both said in unison.

Costas and Ian yawned with fatigue, because it's still a few hours after midnight.

"(*Yawn*) I'd better go get some sleep." Costas yawned and talked simultaneously.

Ian nodded as well, yawning soon after.

"I'm not," I said against their sayings. "I'm going to further improve this new toy of mine."

"Such as…?" Ian said.

"I had a few ideas prior to manufacturing it. I was planning on inserting a search feature, an inventory feature, and a holster to carry this Grand Storage Sphere in."

Ian understood what I wanted to do and said "Okay then, I'll see you in the morning" before walking to the Testing Room's exit.

"Likewise," Costas only said one word before following Ian out of this room.

However, before they left, I stopped them, because I remembered something important, and purposely held it at bay, seeing if they would remember or not.

"Hey, wait!"

They continued to walk despite my shout, and delayed their stop because they _knew_ the reason that I wanted to stop them for: our bet.

"Yes?" They said in a stifled manner.

"I hope you two haven't forgotten about our bet now."

I heard them both groan, probably because they _really_ didn't want to lose their weapon replicas. However, what they didn't know is that I never wanted them from the start, because I only made the bet to prove that I'll be successful, regardless of what was at stake.

"Because I've won the bet, you each get to…" I paused for a moment to raise their tension levels. "…_keep_ one of my spears."

"Oh crap—what?" Costas said with confusion as to why I decided to let them each keep a spear replica of mine.

"…Why?" Ian said concisely and with his left eyebrow raised.

"You both have eternally showed interest in those custom spears I made because of how detailed they were in quality, as well as unique in terms of appearance. So I figured that I should give them to the both of you because you two have always been such good brothers of mine…_despite_ your lack of faith in me over these last six months." I looked at the Grand Storage Sphere in hand. "Besides, because of this phenomenal piece of equipment, I'm feeling rather generous." I then looked back at both of my brothers, whom were clearly touched by my kindness. "Also, I can always make more of them anyway, but what would be the point? I never have the opportunity to use them."

"Thank you," they both said before leaving the Testing Room.

And just like that, I was left alone in my laboratory, with only my inventions around me, and that brought back a case of Déjà vu. "(Hmm, just like old times,)" I thought with a smile, and then that smile flipped upside-down, because I remembered how lonely working alone all day within the solitude of my laboratory was. "(Just like old times…)"

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Tech Room)<span>

Time: 7:32 AM (Morning)

The Tech Room resembled a classroom, only with a heavy amount of complicated technology within. There's nothing more to it.

After a few hours of non-stop work on improving the Grand Storage Sphere for my convenience, I completed all that I mentioned I would make. I added a voice-activated search feature—the Voice Command Program, or VCP for short—that'll only give access to Costas, Ian, and I. I can add more people to access it, but as of now, there aren't. To use it, you simply ask for the item desired, press the button on the center, and the requested item come out the instant the GSS is opened—if the GSS possesses the item, that is.

For the second of the three upgrades, I added an inventory feature so that I can view every item I have within the GSS—named the Inventory Program. To access it, you press the 'GS' letters in the center of the device, and then an interactive hologram emerges from the pressed button and illustrates the items in stock. The size of the hologram is adjustable.

The third upgrade is more of an accessory. As I stated earlier, it was a holster to carry the Grand Storage Sphere in, but it's different than other holsters—let's say, for example, a firearm holster—in the way that the area that holds the GSS in is perfectly round on the lower half, with a highly resilient net for cradling the device from its lower hemisphere and a flap that holds the upper half in place. The holster had an upside-down "Y" shape, surrounded by netting, with a hole in the center for the button on the GSS to not be pressed.

The sash that accompanies the holster is utilized to carry the device without the use of your hands or pockets. How I'd personally wear this holster is with the sash stretching from my left shoulder to the right side of my right hip, with the GSS to my right side there and with quick access to it with my right hand.

To conclude, there are two extra, built-in, magnet-utilizing straps—made of an _extremely_ stretchy and resilient synthetic material, containing traces of the same everlasting material—that, when exposed and utilized, can allow you to add both a belt and a thigh strap that go along with the shoulder strap, for further security. Overall, the color of this accessory—the sash-like shoulder strap and holster combo—is black and white, for simplicity.

Both tech-related upgrades were uploaded onto the complicated circuitry that houses and maintains the black hole. They were currently being fine-tuned, so as to make sure that they were working well and _exactly_ as I want them to.

And while I was examining them, I thought up of two _more_ programs that I need to add to the GSS. Those two programs are programs that'll allow plants and animals to survive in the Grand Storage Sphere.

Once I was done calibrating the upgrades that I uploaded, I began the conception of two programs that'll ensure the survival of plant and animal organisms. The Animal's Survival Program and Plant's Survival Program—ASP and PSP for short. I knew for sure that the PSP would be easier for me to work on and manufacture because of how much more simple plants are in terms of genetics and cellular structure, compared to that of most animals. Also, because of the Berries that I experimented with, I could use an efficient method of housing and/or transporting them.

As for the ASP, that program I knew for sure will require more time and complexity in order to work perfectly, due to the different necessities of varying animals and separate species.

To start, I went to work with the Plant's Survival Program. I used the DNA of one of the sixty-four Berries that I created—the Starf Berry—and ran multiple simulations to see how it would suffice within the device, tweaking it when needed. Within a few hours, I made excellent progress.

I chose to stop working on the program for one reason and one reason only.

I was hungry. I haven't eaten anything since the afternoon of _yesterday_.

I checked the time from a nearby clock. It read "9:38 AM".

Deciding that now was the time to have breakfast, I made one long yawn, left the Grand Storage Sphere on the table with the holster/shoulder strap it was cradled in, the PSP program prototype, and removed my presence from the room, staggering slowly up and out of my underground laboratory.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My House (Kitchen)<span>

Time: 9:40 AM

The instant that I came out of the hidden door of my laboratory, I walked towards the kitchen of my house, and was instantly greeted by Costas and Ian there.

"You've finally decided to come out of your laboratory, right?" Ian said with a content tone of voice. He was currently cooking breakfast for all three of us.

"I guess so." I said with a mild yawn and uncooperative eyes.

"You look tired," Costas said, noticing the shadowed areas below my eyes. He was sitting on a chair next to the table, waiting for his breakfast as if he was a customer at a diner. "Did you spend the remainder of the night working on that Grand Storage Sphere of yours?"

"(*Yawn*) Uh-huh…" I said during the middle of my yawn.

"Maybe a little breakfast will help you wake up," Ian finished cooking the breakfast and placed three plates of food on the table before sitting down on another chair.

The plates had two eggs made in sunny-side-up fashion, a few slices of bacon, and a unique type of bite-size bread—Poffin, as I began to call it—that incorporates whichever of the sixty-four Berries I created as ingredients.

As for the beverage of choice: fresh-squeezed, pulp-free juice, made from Lum Berries and Watmel Berries—for immense nutrition and sweet flavor. This concoction of juice was a favorite of my brothers, and was of my liking.

I could hear my stomach talk to me, saying "Plant your ass on a chair and eat already! Don't let me starve!" in the form of a growl.

"Well, I haven't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon." I said before tugging the third chair away from the table before sitting down on it. "Alright then," I said as I picked up a fork and began to devour pieces of the eggs somewhat automatically, partially tasting it.

We all began to eat amongst ourselves for about two minutes, until Costas broke the silence with a conversation.

"Eduardo. That Grand Storage Sphere of yours…" Costas had finished eating his eggs and grabbed a piece of bacon. "…Were you successful with adding those upgrades you talked about?"

"Yeah, I was." I had already finished eating both of the eggs and all three strips of bacon, rather quickly. Now, I grabbed the Poffin, but I decided to not eat it because of the color of the bread, as well as the burning sensation that my fingertips had upon holding it.

This sensation, I knew for sure, came from that of a Spelon Berry, an oddity of a Berry that's _extremely_ spicy to the taste and scorching to the touch. Whosoever is daring or _unfortunate_ enough to eat it will literally make like a dragon and spew fire from their mouth.

Ian must've made this ludicrously spicy Poffin _on purpose_ to awaken me through shock. I suspected this when he made a face of disappointment when I chose not to eat it. So, instead of eating it, I just decided to place it back on the plate. "If one of you decides to use the GSS—and I strongly suspect that you'll both want to—, you'll notice a large, bright and palpable hologram display that gives you full access to its inventory, if you press onto the 'GS' buttons. You'll also be able to command it verbally to give you the item of your choosing. Only the three of us have this type of access." I told them what the new programs could do.

"What about that 'holster' for it? Did you make that too?" Ian wondered and then grabbed the glass of Lum and Watmel Berry juice, but decided to not drink it yet. He had also already finished half of all three types of foods on his plate.

"The strap for it was _already_ there, so the only thing I had to make was the custom round bag that has a durable metal skeleton in it for rigidity. And the metal that I used was from a slightly larger shell duplicate that I intended to use to contain the black hole, but decided to use a slightly smaller size."

"Interesting…" Ian said only one word before taking a sip from the cup.

"If you think that's interesting, wait until you hear this:" I drank about a third of the juice from the cup, taking a feel for the deliciously healthy flavor that I was consuming. "I'm working on a program that'll allow any kind of plant to survive and thrive inside the Grand Storage Sphere." I gave a significantly long look at the Poffin I was rolling around on my plate, which helped me remember that the Berry that gave this bread flavor grew from a plant. "Once I upload the program into the hardware of the GSS, I'll be able to store perfectly thriving and growing Berry plants and always have a fresh supply of fruit as often as we want and wherever we decide to go."

Costas gave a light whistle of astonishment and then devoured the last piece of bacon in one bite.

"And I'm also working on another program that'll allow animals to thrive in it."

I then stopped playing with my Poffin because of one reason.

"However…," I made a very serious tone and face, and I was staring at the Spelon Berry Poffin. "…I'll seldom use that program, because I'd rather avoid storing live animals, especially if it's against their will."

My odd choice of action left both of my brothers somewhat confused.

_Still_ staring at the Spelon Berry Poffin, I continued. "…Then again, depending on the conditions, I _might_ use the GSS on animal life for whatever assistance that I can provide."

They continued to finish their meal completely…and in verbal silence. I continued to finish my meal alongside them.

"(And I thought that black hole was deep…)" Ian gave my decision a mental compliment before finishing the rest of his food and juice.

"(Hmm…)" Costas thought about my choice of decision and whether it was a good choice to make or not. "(Meh… It's your GSS. Use it wisely.)" He respected the decision I made and finished the remainder of his breakfast, drink and all.

"(I'll still create the program, just in case.)" I drank the remainder of the juice, and held the Poffin in my hand, not being sure what to decide to do with it.

Once we were all done with every single bit of our breakfast, excluding the Spelon Berry Poffin that I was holding on to, I took all three of the plates, leaving the Poffin behind on the table. Costas took all three of the cups to the sink I made, complete with a working pipe and a water tank that runs to my underground laboratory. We gave them a brief, but thorough wash with soap and water, and then we left them on a tray that was nearby a glassless window which was letting in strong sunlight, despite the fact that it was only 9:53 AM. The sunlight was all that was needed to evaporate the water away and leave the plates as dry as the rest of the village around here.

We turned back to our table and we sat back down on our respective seats. However, just as we were about to restart our conversation, we heard _knocking on the door_.

From what I heard, I was able to pinpoint five knocks, and a very faint sound of metal clanking across each other. Based on the two types of sound that I've heard alone, I could tell that someone whom was wearing _metal_ was knocking on the door. My two friends simply knew the fact that there was knocking on the door.

"I wonder who's at the door," Ian wondered.

"We _never_ get visitors, not even from our neighbors," I said with a worried face. "Whatever this is, it can't be good."

Once again the enigmatic visitor knocked five more times at the door, only with a bit more force, probably due to impatience.

"Who should go and open the door?" Costas said, hoping someone besides him goes.

I remembered the remaining Poffin on the table and retrieved it. As I held the Poffin, I said to my brothers "If events go astray, I'll give us some time with this Poffin." They agreed with me, and stepped aside. I turned back to the door, only with a firm countenance.

As I slowly approached the door due to cautious curiosity and mild fear, knowing for sure that someone with metal was behind, I said without much thought into it "Who is it?" in a curious, yet serious tone.

As a reply, the unknown visitor knocked five _more_ times, and with a greater, more demanding force.

Not letting those demanding knocks on the door cause me to fear anymore than I should, I hid the Poffin behind my back with my left hand and I reached out to the door's handle, grasped it with my right hand, gave it one quarter turn clockwise, and quickly jerked the door open. What I heard earlier was true to my suspicions, but there was more to this. Instead of one person in metal clothing, there were three. Also, they weren't ordinary visitors; they three were armed Roman soldiers.

Each soldier had on a red wool tunic that appeared to be a combination of a short-sleeve shirt that stretched to their elbows, a scarf that covered the neck, and a skirt that stopped just below the knees. They each had on a durable metal helmet that wrapped across their cheeks and was strapped to their chins, and they had on body armor that covered and bulwarked their entire torso, shoulders, and groin; all silver in color. They had on brown, well-made sandals that wrapped above their ankles and were heavily surrounding their feet.

However, I didn't pay attention to their clothing. I was paying much more attention to the weaponry they each had. I had a strong suspicion that anyone who carries weapons on them is willing to use it when needed.

All three of them each had three offensive types of weaponry and only one of them had a defensive type of weaponry—that soldier was the one in charge at the moment. They each had on them a short sword with a yellow handle that was strapped to their right side in the same manner as how I would strap the GSS onto me. Strapped to their left side was a dagger with a brown handle. Brandished on their right hands were terrifyingly long javelins that were longer than they were tall. Wielded in the left hand of only one of the Roman soldiers was a rectangular and curved, gigantic red shield with a decorative pattern on its surface.

I was a bit anxious after seeing their weaponry. "Can I help you three?" I said in a somewhat feeble tone, hoping that I'll get some sort of answer to their purpose in being here.

They were silent and immediately stepped inside of my home, shoving me away, completely ignoring my presence.

"What the hell is your problem?" I barked at them, disliking their rudeness. I completely forgot that they had weapons to use on me to silence me.

_Still,_ they didn't say a word. All they were doing was staring at the entire home and checking every square inch of it, as if they were looking for someone.

…Or looking for something _specific_.

"(What do these degenerates want here?)" I thought with much disrespect over their kind. I was still concealing the Spelon Berry Poffin behind my back.

Remember this: A Roman General by the name of Mercury killed my parents and bragged about doing so in a letter that I received a few years ago.

"(What are they _doing_?)" Costas pondered while watching the Roman soldiers search my home for something.

"(Are they…_looking_ for something?)" Ian thought while watching their every action. "(And if so, _what_ are they looking for?)"

"What are you Roman degenerates doing in my house?" I boomed because I couldn't stand their presence.

Finally, I got their leader's attention because he stopped searching and approached me. As he was doing so, I was feeling more hate and fury than fear and regret over my choice of action. I had a brief, but feeble thought of him impaling me with his sword, but I wasn't afraid enough to submit to intimidation and wipe off the rage-filled expression on my face. I was ready to fight if I had to, and I _do_ have the technology to defend myself and my brothers with.

The soldier with the shield stopped five feet within my field of existence and stared at me continuously, with no abnormal facial expression. I felt as if he was saying "Don't mess with me kid, because I can impale you mercilessly" merely with body language.

"(What a strange kid…,)" He thought. "(His clothing, his attitude, his modicum of common sense and fear to my appearance and my potential… What an oddity…)"

"I will say this only once more," I lifted my right arm and pointed one single finger to his face. "And your ears had better be tuned to what I have to say next:" I gulped in one full breath of air, preparing to assert myself with a loud voice. "Why are _you_ in my house?"

"Where is it?" He completely ignored my speech once more, as if he was acting in a frivolous manner to me.

I could've sworn an anger-filled vein protruded from my right temple, but I remained strong and had my emotions under enough control, but not completely. I brought my right arm down and my hand coiled into a fist. "Are you changing the—" I was silenced instantly when that soldier with the shield unsheathed his dagger with great speed and had the point of it aimed at the Adam's apple on my neck.

Both Costas and Ian raised their guard. They didn't like these people either, albeit not as much as I.

"Where is it?" He was too focused on his goal, whatever it may be.

I wasn't fully afraid of his weapon against my neck. I was too enraged at them to cringe. "What are you talking about?" I said with only one moment of looking at the weapon ominously held towards my neck.

"Where is it?" he shouted with an unusually stable tone.

"(God damn it! Just say what you're looking for!) Where's what!" I expected an answer this time, and that's exactly what I got.

"Where is that _storage_ device of yours?"

All of us (Costas, Ian and I) could've sworn a warning alarm went off inside of our heads. My heart seemed to skip a beat and felt temporarily out of place from its normal location. How could these three Romans _know_ about my S1-GS device, when only Costas, Ian, and I know of its existence?

"…" I was abruptly silenced in both speech and thought and I could have sworn my palms were drenched with stress. If they were, I held the Spelon Berry Poffin with the tips of two of my digits, so as to not soil it with sweat.

"…" Costas and Ian were just as shocked as I was.

"Where is it?" That same soldier shouted once more and gave me a surprisingly gentle poke to the throat, which only poked at the thin layer of upper skin. "We received Intel that the device is under your possession, kid. You would be wise to cooperate, if you value your life."

I felt like I was bleeding mildly on my neck. I placed my left hand on my neck to see if it would stain with blood. When I retracted my left hand from my neck and looked at my palm, there was a very small amount of blood on it, but nothing major. That modicum of blood was enough to bring me back to my senses, and because I was back to my senses, I instantly remembered the method of defense that I was going to use. "Fine, I'll cooperate. But let me finish my food first." I said, and then I took the Spelon Berry Poffin in my left hand and ate it whole—because they're bite-sized—not feeling the full effects of it yet because there's a small delay with it.

"What the hell is that?" He was very confused with my choice of action, but a whole lot more with the kind of food that I had, because Poffin just as exclusive to the three of us as the S1-GS device.

I was smiling because I mentally pictured these soldiers burning alive. "This food…" I began to feel the burning feeling in my mouth and actual _smoke_ began to fume its way out of my nose. My face also began to glow red with heat as well.

This made the soldier step back a bit, sheath his weapon, and grip his oversized shield instinctively. "(What in the…?)"

"…is your cue…" I stepped back a bit as well, making sure all of the conditions for the act of incineration are perfect.

Costas and Ian stepped back as well to avoid backfire, they knew as well as I do how volatile a Spelon Berry is once it's eaten.

"…to stop, drop and roll!"

Immediately, I emulated a dragon and fired a powerful continuous flamethrower at the hostile soldier. However, his shield was just brought up in time to bulwark himself against the powerful fire attack. The fire bounced off of the shield and coincidentally kept the other two soldiers at bay. The fire proved useless in catching the house on fire, especially because it was made of stone.

After about five seconds of continuous fire, which seemed incapable at burning my mouth from the inside, I finally stopped, completely exhausted of firepower. "…Now's our chance!" I shouted, with clouds of smoke puffing out with each word that I said.

As if we were on steroids, all three of us ran to our room and down the secret hatch to my laboratory, completely abandoning the three soldiers in our wake.

The victim of the fire escaped with only the hair on his left arm singed off. However, his shield wasn't so lucky—which was painfully obvious since it received the full heat of the Spelon Berry fire. The shield was still on fire and was burning away into ash, despite the fact that it was metallic.

With a frustrated grunt, the soldier tossed the shield out of the door, before it burned away into nothingness. "(Son of a bitch! He _burned_ my shield!)" He then unsheathed his sword and his two other soldiers did the same. "Get that little bastard _and_ his infinite storage device!" He shouted and they all went to our room.

To their surprise, we weren't there when they arrived. Unfortunately, they weren't the kind of people to just give up and accept defeat. After all they _were_ soldiers, _expected_ to be persistent and martially potent. They suspected that we three took a secret entrance, and they were looking for that very same secret entrance.

After a few minutes of anger-fueled searching, the soldier whose shield is now ash found a small metal gap in the sand below and put his free hand in it and pulled the gap towards his direction, almost falling over when he discovered how easily the door opened. "There in here!" he alerted the other two soldiers to the entrance. "You two go after his friends. _I'll_ deal with that boy myself."

Without a complaint, both soldiers unsheathed their swords and did as he commanded. They went on ahead, while the commanding soldier paused for a moment to think.

"I'm going to enjoy rending that kid to a bloody carcass."

He followed close behind the others.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Armory Room)<span>

Time: 10:02 AM

All three of us caught our breath once we ran to our preferred destination: the Armory Room. Within this room's walls, there resides dozens of bladed weaponry, unique weaponry, explosive weaponry, and ranged weaponry. All of these weapons ranged from a time period of a thousand years before today to the 21st century.

As much as I wanted to use the guns to successfully end those three's lives with ease, I couldn't do that for three reasons. Disappointingly, the machine that creates bullets and gunpowder is currently out of service and requires about an hour's work to repair. Currently, there aren't any bullets to utilize. And when using a gun, there's a huge lack of overall skill that makes killing someone somewhat unsatisfying.

I wanted to kill them with greater satisfaction in myself.

"Ian (*Pant*) (*Pant*)…" I managed to speak while catching my breath.

"(*Pant*) Yeah...?"

"Thank you for (*Pant*)… baking that Spelon Berry Poffin." I put my right hand on his left shoulder as a congratulatory form of body language. "It gave us a chance (*Pant*)… to escape."

"(*Pant*)… Don't mention it," He smiled.

We caught our breath after a minute of simultaneous hyperventilating. Then, we heard very faint, but noticeable approaching footsteps.

"They're here!" Costas said in a dreaded sing-song voice.

"Then we have no choice but to fight!" Ian instantly went for the four-foot-long bow and quiver that came with it. He loaded thirty barbed arrows inside it.

The bow that he chose was easily different than other bows. For starters, this bow was an extremely high-tech, modified bow that was capable of separating from each other from the center. The firing string on it is actually _hyper-condensed_ electricity, capable of appearing and disappearing whether the bow was connected or separated. The bow has two modes: bow mode and twin-sword mode, the blades of which are bent in a thirty degree angle, so as to form the proper shape of the bow. It is also capable of firing two arrows simultaneously, or in tandem, from each side with ease. This is a sophisticated bow for the proficient archer.

"I've wanted to use this in an actual fight for so long," he muttered to himself when strapping the quiver on his back, but we could hear him anyway.

"If we have to fight, then…" Costas searched the weapon options around him and had his eyes eventually set on the two five-foot-long tridents that both had a sharp back end and a barbed spearhead that is shaped like the letter E on its back. "…then I call those two spears." He went and grabbed them, one on each hand, then twirled them around himself with great skill.

"(*Sigh*)…" I gave a sigh because my martial reluctance in combat was always higher than both Costas and Ian. And the reason was this: I disliked fighting anyone I would consider or I _have_ considered being a loved one. However, my abilities in combat were extraordinarily proficient and my abilities with the weaponry around me were equally dexterous and I would be stalwart with whatever I chose, because my trademark assets are versatility and considerable unpredictability.

To make things bend in my favor, I _wasn't_ fighting someone that I would consider being a loved one. I was fighting an enemy, an enemy that is part of a civilization that I heavily _loathed_ for killing my parents. With this in mind, I went to get the custom spear and _dual-bladed_ broadsword that I manufactured.

The _seven_-foot-long custom spear that I obtained had a five-pointed prong head on it that was bent towards the center point, and it had a three-point prong end on it that also was drawn to the center point, similar to Costas's spearhead, but more to the center, and heavily barbed. The sword was like an ordinary sword, but with the center line on it removed, so that it has the appearance of two closely-connected, halved weapons, allowing for _two_ impalements instead of one, for double the infiltration with each thrust of the sword.

"(Thank God I'll be fighting _Romans_,)" I thought while quickly twirling the custom spear—the Penta-dent, as I've named it—on my right hand before strapping the sword's sheath, with the exotic sword in it, onto my right side simultaneously, and then I forcefully planted the spear on the ground, piercing the floor on the ground a good inch when doing so.

"To defeat them quickly, do you think it would be best if we divide and conquer?" Ian suggested while loading his bow-blade with two arrows from the quiver on his back.

"I wouldn't ask for it in any other way," Costas grinned.

"_I'll_ fight the soldier who used to have that shield," I said, and was instantly given nods from my brothers. "(For the protection of our secret…)"

We left the room with the instincts of fighting now active within each of us. Costas and Ian left first and went to find the two other Roman soldiers. I stayed behind and locked the door of the Armory Room with an encrypted numerical password that all three of us knew and agreed with. That password is 12-31-45, with the '12' standing for months, the '31' stands for days and the '45' stands for years.

This date for a password was the day that the Roman General Mercury assassinated my parents: December 31st, 45 A.D.

"(I will avenge you both…)" I thought.

I then dashed towards the Tech Room of the laboratory because the S1-GS device currently resided there. I knew for a fact that those soldiers shouldn't get their hands on one of my greatest invention yet, at all costs. If they succeed, I can assume that they'll use it to store their weaponry and equipment in, so that each of the soldiers doesn't have to carry half their weight in needed items everywhere they go and reach their intended destinations faster.

Of course, they could also use it to assimilate _all_ of the enemies in their way, guaranteeing victory.

Once I reached the Tech Room, the S1-GS device was still there, and thankfully, no one else.

Without giving my next action any more thought, I grabbed my device, as well as all of its accessories, and placed it within a security tube—a glass tube with multiple laser guns that'll strike anyone that it doesn't recognize as either Costas, Ian or I—that was also inside of the Tech Room, letting all of it float nonchalantly due to the anti-gravity technology within it.

Once that was done, I placed myself perfectly between the security tube and the only door that this room had. Then I faced the door, stepped back to the security tube, unsheathed my double-bladed sword with my left hand and formed my own battle stance.

I stood there 99% motionless, trying to stay as quiescent as physically possible. The only parts of my body that was unable to stay still were my eyes, but that was because the human eye moves at about eighty times a _second_, even when they appear to be still.

"(This asshole better come over to me…)" I thought, anticipating his arrival.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory<span>

Time: 10:08 AM

The Roman soldier ran across the laboratory with incredible speed, even with the heavy armor on him. "(Where is that boy?)" he thought as he passed by the locked Armory Room.

He passed by a few more rooms along the way to find me. He stopped for only a few seconds when he passed by the Berry Greenhouse Room. Within that room were huge Berry trees that were as tall as oak trees, and about as similar. But that wasn't what got his attention; it was what was going on _within_ that room.

A fight between one of the three Roman soldiers and Ian was happening in the Berry Greenhouse Room.

"What's your status quo, soldier?" The commanding soldier asked.

"I've got him under control!" He said without taking his eyes away from Ian, who shot one the first of two arrows that he loaded on his bow from a distance of about forty-five feet. However, that arrow was instantly halted by his dagger and fell to the nutritious soil below. "I'll have this boy defeated in no time!" he smirked, still not averting his eyes.

"Since you're so cocky, _prove_ it!" he said, firing the second loaded arrow towards the soldier's forehead with great accuracy. Unfortunately, it was also blocked by his dagger. Despite the accuracy of the second arrow, it was only an intended diversion, and Ian took that opportunity to dart towards the soldier, detaching both ends of his bow and wielding them like swords in the process.

His opponent had only a small amount of time to do the following: the soldier stabbed the ground with the javelin he was holding on his right hand, not needing it for close-ranged combat. Then, with his free hand, he grabbed his short sword from its sheath and had _almost_ no time to defend and parry against two sword attacks, using his dagger and short sword.

"(This kid's fast! And what kind of bow is he wielding?)" He thought with gritted teeth, and then he pushed Ian back with both blades.

Ian stepped clumsily back for about four feet, but it wasn't anything serious. He charged back to the soldier once more with a look of determination and swung forcefully, yet accurately to the soldier. The soldier used every bit of his reflexes and quick thinking to detect each blow and parry against them with his weaponry.

Deciding that this soldier has everything under control, he went onward across the hallways.

Once again, he stopped once more, right nearby the Long-Range Practice Room. This room is, as titled, what you'd expect. It has circular, colored targets to aim and long-range weapons nearby to use to aim with.

Or at least it would if the ammo was available at that time.

And just like before, there was a fight going on within the room. Costas was fighting the second of the soldiers. The soldier had thrown his javelin, hoping it was fast enough to quickly cover the thirty feet distance and impale without interference from the victim. _Against_ his hopes, Costas not only _stopped_ the javelin in its tracks, but he _caught_ it in the thin gaps of one of his two spears.

Costas smirked at his opponent's dissatisfaction. "Long range attacks? Are you serious?" He said in a highly offensive manner, and then intimidated by slicing the wooden javelin about a dozen times consecutively with stalwart up-and-down motions of his other spear until there was no more wood on it to chop off. To finish, he swung the left spear once, removing the useless javelin, and pointed his left spear to the soldier. "What store did you get that wood from, the Cheap-O-Depot?"

The commanding soldier thought the words "Cheap-O-Depot" a few times in his head, finding the joke somewhat amusing, but recalled pressing matters. "Soldier, what's your status quo?"

The soldier literally formed a vein of anger on his forehead, gritted his teeth to near breaking point, and unsheathed both of the bladed weaponry on his possession. "I'm going to kick this little bastard's ass!" He instantly charged towards Costas with both blades dancing around him.

Costas didn't say a word. All he did was let him come, and once that soldier was close enough, he easily parried every blow given to him without a step taken out of place, utilizing formidable defensive and parrying techniques. Costas was so cocky that he took the time to make a pseudo-yawn, feigning boredom.

"Go and face that kid already!" the attacking soldier shouted to his fellow soldier. "I'll handle this brat!"

The commanding soldier didn't say a word and ran off once more to find me, leaving behind a pissed off soldier and an experienced defender to fight one-on-one.

"(Good luck, the both of you…)" He thought as he was heading over to my location, unaware of my presence over there yet.

Along the way, the commanding soldier pondered what he witnessed.

"(They've got such abnormal weapons on them.)" The commanding soldier thought to himself, confirming current facts. "(However, we have an advantage. All that we have to do is inflict one blow and their opponents lose instantly.)" He made a left turn and continued onward, not feeling any form of fatigue whatsoever due to his rigorous and physically-demanding training at Military School. "(I should find myself fortunate that I was told of this beforehand.)"

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Tech Room)<span>

Time: 10:13 AM

At last, the commanding soldier arrived to where he wanted to: The Tech Room.

"This better be the—" He stopped soliloquizing the instant he saw me and with blinding speed, brought up his javelin and formed a defensive battle stance. He was ready for me.

However, something was wrong with the current situation, and he sensed it.

Just to make sure, he stepped closer to me until he was four feet away from me. He _almost_ laughed out loud at seeing my current situation.

My eyes were closed.

"I don't believe it… He fell asleep?" he tried his hardest to not guffaw loudly at my quiescent being, but was still laughing in the form of stifled chuckles.

He then noticed the S1-GS suspended in mid air in a glass tube. Not caring at all about how it is floating inside it, he went towards it, but then decided to stop in his tracks once he was close enough to fog up the glass with the carbon dioxide in his breath. And what do you think was the reason for his strange choice?

The answer has two letters in it only and it's the opposite of the word "you".

Me.

"Wait a second. I'm rushing myself," He said to himself with reasonable volume on his voice. He then turned around and walked until he was face-to-face with me. "I'll kill this kid for burning my shield with whatever he used, and _then_ I'll take this kid's device."

Using the javelin that he has on his right hand, he slowly stepped back and brought the throwing weapon above his chest and had the weapon's sharp tip pointing to my throat, with only a gap between the tip and the skin on my neck measuring three inches across.

"(If only I can kill you when you're not asleep, so I can hear you scream your last moments in pain.)"

Retracting the javelin back about six feet with the speed of a turtle, he wants to savor the moment, he grinned satisfactorily and then he gave a thrust forward.

_**CLANG!**_

Just as the javelin was being thrust towards my Adam's apple, I caught it in the gaps of my spear, and I only suffered a _very_ small puncture wound that was a millimeter deep a little below my Adam's apple. I did realize the sting of pain that he inflicted but I didn't pay attention to it.

As the attacking soldier was still in disbelief, I brought up the double-bladed sword and wedged his javelin between both blades on my sword. And then, with one lightning-fast jerk of my wrist, I instantly snapped the metal one-foot-long point of his javelin off and threw it aside from my sword. I gave one forward thrust with the Penta-dent, and because the soldier was still in disbelief, he fell over onto his rear.

Instead of finishing him off, I removed the javelin point off of my spear and reformed the battle stance of mine perfectly, waiting for him to get up and face me.

"You were still awake?" The commanding soldier got back up to his feet, shaken by my _alleged_ awakening.

I didn't budge at all as I was speaking, nor did my face's countenance turn into something else. "You actually fell for it? You're more of a degenerate than I thought."

As quickly as he was put down on the floor, he calmed himself down quickly. He smirked at me and only gave a brief laugh. "He he heh… Well your little trick will come back to haunt you."

I just began to feel the feeling of a drop of blood run down my neck once he mentioned the wound I sustained from his first attack. However, it was only a miniscule laceration and I paid it little to no mind. I figured he was only bluffing.

The soldier unsheathed both of his blades and formed a battle stance with his sword held on his left hand and stationed above his left shoulder and his dagger held on his right hand and pointed behind his left side. "Do you think you're capable of causing me to pay in blood instead of weapons alone?" He said in a highly insulting tone.

"Against you, _greatly,_" I said with extra emphasis on the last word.

"Likewise…boy."

We stood there motionless for about ten seconds. We were both having this current tactic of waiting for any kind of hint or clue to our opponent's next action. Whether it was a sudden muscle twitch or what we think our opponent's eye is locked on to, we were willing to accept any kind of action that our opponent makes before going all martial on our intended targets.

As twenty more seconds went by, I actually lost interest in finding a pre-warning attack and decided to swap my current tactic to something with a bit more benefit to me. It'll benefit me a lot instead of a little because it involves my battle specialty. Besides being highly skilled in fighting with or without weaponry—what I was almost _godly_ at—, I was proficient in my offensive agility and quick thinking, thanks to my 10,000 I.Q. mind.

Without giving absolutely any warning to the enemy soldier, I immediately dashed towards him with near superhuman speed. Then, I gave a diagonal slash with my Penta-dent spear, which instantly struck and sliced across his breast plate. Next, I twirled 360 degrees to the left and followed up with an attack from my double-bladed sword, giving him a small, but long gash across the same plate of his armor, in the same exact place.

To end my chained attack, I quickly tucked both weapons to their sides and struck him with both of my fists, and with enough force to send him staggering back, but not falling back, about six feet. To get away from him so that I don't receive a retaliated attack, I jumped backwards and then reformed my stance, not realizing that I landed close to exactly the same place that I started before attacking.

The soldier blinked a few times, blind as to what he just saw. "(This kid's a martial blur…)" he thought, and then he remembered the gash I left on his chest.

As quickly as he remembered it, he felt the terrible pain rise from his torso and put his hand on the gaping wound, feeling a significant amount of blood seeping through the plating of the armor and falling onto the floor, the shock causing him to drop both weapons in hand.

I knew that if he wasn't wearing armor, he would've died on the spot. Part of me wished that he lacked armor, so that his death was immediate.

Once he noticed the blood on his hand, armor and floor of my laboratory, he turned his attention back at me and said "What are those weapons of yours made of?" in a somewhat demanding and mildly curious tone.

I felt like he was going to die soon, so I told him anyway. "More than what those silver toothpicks are made of."

He didn't fully understand what I said. Instead, he decided to recover both of his dropped weapons and continue to attack, despite his inflicted injury.

We both began attacking, evading and parrying in tandem and with great speed. I came close to decapitating him when I brought up the blades of both of my weapons up to his neck in a scissor-like motion, but he ducked and then he tried to slice off my legs with both bladed weapons. Unfortunately for him, I back-flipped to avoid the double sweep attack of his, stabbed the ground with my spear when I was upside down and held on to it as I briefly defied gravity—by remaining perfectly horizontal—, then gave him two consecutive kicks close to the sliced zone of his armor.

He staggered back once more and clutched the same wound of his torso again, only with more concern because the sharp ends of the slashed breast plate pierced into the wound.

"(How can anyone _attack_ like that?)" He thought about my gravity-defying attack with clenched teeth of pain. "(His battle style… They're unlike anything that I've ever seen!)"

I remade contact onto the floor with my feet, removed the Penta-dent spear from the floor and once more, I reformed my battle stance. "Your blood is painting my floor red," I said. "You've sustained far greater damage than I, and yet you _still_ choose to fight me?"

The soldier took a few breaths before saying "Yes" confidently.

"Why?"

"Because I've already won this battle," he smirked cockily and then he sheathed his weapons.

Obviously, I knew that he knew that he did something to win the battle, but I have no clue as to what. "What are you talking about?" I said in an incredibly dubious way. "The only wound you've inflicted on me was the small stab wound on my neck!" I pointed to the wound on my neck with one finger.

"Exactly," He said with an eerie grin. "That wound from the start was enough to have you defeated."

"You're bluffing," I said skeptically.

The only action that that soldier did was shaking his head slowly, with irregular nonchalance.

I began to feel that trying to reason with him was pointless. Many thoughts began to swirl in my mind and I attempted to find an answer. "(Why is he so confident with that one wound he inflicted on me?)" I thought without having the caution of the enemy going on the offensive.

I lowered my weaponry, not from feeling a bit safer, but from a different reason. I could've sworn my body was weakening and I was beginning to lose feeling in my arms.

"(Perfect…)" The enemy soldier grinned schizophrenically. "(It's already taking effect…)"

I gazed at the broken javelin on the floor while I still had the strength and ability to see clearly to do so. My vision was beginning to fade out, a sign that I was beginning to drift out of consciousness. From what I saw on it, I noticed the head of the weapon seemed to be a bit more _luminous_ than normal. Instantly, I noticed that it was coated with some sort of transparent liquid. That something was a substance that I instantly recognized as something that belongs to me.

"You used…my liquid anesthetic solution…against me…" I said with a surprised low tone, shocked that he was smart enough to use one of my own experiments—which he must've obtained when coming towards me—_against_ me. The solution's effect was already causing every part of me to become abate. Even my own speech was becoming abated.

"You did lock your armory, but not your medical facilities, which is where my two grunts and I found that…liquid anesthetic was it?" He said, being somewhat unaware of the identity of the substance that he utilized on me.

I felt so numb and weak that I began to slouch against my will and the unusual bladed weaponry on my hands fell of my hands and onto the floor. "(Costas…and Ian… They'll fail as I have… All because…of me…)"

"And now you're paying for your mistake with your life."

"…" I finally lost the ability to say or think anything. However, I still didn't fall over unconscious, because my willpower was the only thing that was keeping me standing, but only just.

Unfortunately, I couldn't retaliate anymore, or defend my invention.

The victor of this battle decided to go to the S1-GS device, wanting to claim it as a victory prize.

"This storage orb…" he said, holding in his excitement. "…It's mine…"

He reached out his hand slowly towards the device, savoring the moment.

"…It's finally m—GAAH!"

He immediately retracted his hand back after coming face-to-face with the security tube's defense mechanism—which is armed with laser guns that are trained to fire on anyone that isn't Costas, Ian, or I. He stared at the instant second-degree burn on the very center of the back of his right hand, hissing in pain.

"You bastard!" he yelled at me, and then he struck the back of my head with the butt of his sword, shattering my balance and having the floor come up to punch me in the face. "You just won't surrender something, even when you've fallen!"

"…" I was officially unconscious on the floor. My weapons existed adjacent of me, growing cold from lack of use and the absence of my grip on them.

A few seconds later, both grunt soldiers came to the same room that the commanding soldier and my unconscious being were in. With them were both Costas and Ian, whom have _also_ fallen victim to the anesthetic that I've created.

Without care, both soldiers threw both of them aside towards me, but not directly on top of me. They were about two feet away from me, narrowly avoiding falling directly on top of my weaponry. Their weapons were left in the rooms from which they lost in.

"So, you succeeded in causing that boy to fall." The first soldier said, staring at my dropped body.

"Yes I have." He said, strangling his hand as if he didn't want the pain it was creating to communicate to his brain.

"Did something happen to your hand?" The second soldier inquired, noticing this.

The commanding soldier growled with anger, and then he showed them the perfectly circular second-degree burn on the center of his hand for a brief amount of time. "This brat that I defeated with his own anesthetic left the orb in a protective shield that strikes anything hostile with a hot…_energy_ of some kind," He described, being completely unsure of the firing weapon used against him.

"So then what about that storage sphere of his?" the second soldier wondered, feeling as if their mission of obtaining the storage device was in jeopardy.

"The rest of the Roman legion, with General Mercury as their leader, they are coming to this location as we speak," The first soldier warned and reminded him. "They're expecting us to have the orb by the time of their arrival."

"What will we do?"

The commanding soldier stared at the unconscious brothers on the floor and remembered the class of torture he took in Military School. He smirked at the fun he'll have at finally using those torture methods. "Once these three boys wake up, I'll begin with one of our many ways of 'negotiation' that I've learned in Military School."

The two soldiers knew what he was talking about and grinned with eagerness.

"We'll get answers from them soon enough," He grinned maliciously. "But until then, let's take them to a room in this place that can best resemble a holding chamber."

* * *

><p>"Life is precious. Sentient life is more precious. But when one sentient group threatens the survival of another, then the threatened group has the right to protect themselves." —Orson Scott Card (340) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

* * *

><p>Before having this chapter submitted, I took it upon myself to update my profile with information regarding the S1-GS device. I'll be sure to do this with any future devices that I fantasize.<p>

Please leave any comments about my FanFic. I would love to hear your honest opinion, be it helpful, negative, or positive.


	4. Parallel Prologue (Part II (2))

For this chapter, I would highly recommend you to look at my profile and check the segment regarding aura colors and what they represent. It would provide a better understanding of what each color means.

Also, I'm trying something new (but probably already seen hundreds of times in other FanFics).

I listed a song here that I would recommend (but not require) you listen to, to get a better feel of the action going on in this chapter.

The link is in my profile, listed under the segment where I list referenced songs. It's there because posting it _here_ didn't work for me, and I barely caught notice of it.

You're on your own in trying to find and download the song online (assuming you want to), although I would recommend google to begin with, and then type in the album or song specified. It's quite easy if you're tech savvy, and I've obtained albums on my favorite video games in doung so, from all of the main Pokemon games, Kingdom Hearts (ALL of them), Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Star Fox (ALL of them), Super Mario Galaxy (and its sequel), Halo (1, 2, and 3), The World Ends With You, Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, etc.

Youtube also works, but you have to be specific with the searches. They often have the link as well.

It shouldn't be so hard if you intend to do this (although you don't have to if you don't care or feel like it). But if you do, you may need to download a program that can extract WinRAR files. Once again, google works for that. It's a _search_ engine after all.

Well, that's enough about that. Now its onto the FanFic.

* * *

><p><strong>Parallel Prologue (Part II (2)): Epic Battle! Disaster vs. Aura<strong>

_Two and a Half Years Later…_

Estimated Time: Very Late 20th Century

Riolu's Estimated Age: 2.5 Years

Over the course of thirty months, the Riolu that was last seen in bed, recovering from extensive injuries, has been training hard under the paws and claws of both Tiny and Grovyle.

Riolu trained hard from Tiny and learned all that was expected for it to learn from it.

He learned how to use telepathy.

He learned how to see the aura around him, utilizing the move FORESIGHT. However, he prefers to call it "Aura Vision" because Tiny called it Aura Vision, saying how FORESIGHT for their species is considerably different for other species of Pokémon. He was able to see the aura around him at a range of over 500 feet, with minimal effort.

He learned how to manipulate his overall weight at will, useful when falling off from a high distance, abating a powerful knockback, or leaping to gain a much-needed boost in vertical distance. Tiny also explained to him about a Lucario's Steel-Type defensive mechanism, where the overall density of its body is increased by 2000% when knocked unconscious, a useful trait to learn about prior to evolution.

He learned how to manipulate the aura within him to reduce damage from opponents' attacks and to deliver more damage to opponents. It also works with helping boost his normal physical ability, giving him a boost in whatever he wants, such as running speed, muscle size, jumping distance, etc.

He learned how to walk on water with the aura, a new concept that Tiny came up with.

He learned how to harness the aura _around_ him and assimilate its power for his own. This will prove useful in long, arduous fights.

He learned how to use FORCE PALM, a Pokémon technique that allows the user to store a bit of energy in the center of the palms and detonate it at close-range or mid-range.

He learned how to read minds, sense the emotions of other organisms, and anticipate their actions—an ability that all Lucario and Riolu can utilize.

He learned how to climb walls, and cling onto _ceilings_, utilizing aura as his grappling hook.

As for his training with Grovyle, that's where the predictability abruptly ended. Grovyle didn't think that Riolu would be able to use the moves that it currently had in its arsenal: BULLET SEED, LEAF BLADE, MEGA DRAIN and SOLARBEAM. It thought that Riolu would only receive a physical benefit from the agility and jungle combat training that it had planned for him, but it was wrong.

It was very wrong.

Besides passing jungle combat training with flying colors, Riolu also learned every single technique that Grovyle had in its current disposal to teach, rendered _beyond_ surprised at his results. Riolu perfected BULLET SEED, favors LEAF BLADE for close combat, only uses MEGA DRAIN—a technique that allows the user to assimilate an opponent's energy—when needed, and learned SOLARBEAM quite recently, albeit is overwhelmed by its requirements.

Fortunately, that effect was reduced greatly when Riolu finally _evolved_ into a Lucario, which was when he had turned two years of age. The time for evolution was somewhat soon for a normal Riolu, but due to the highly dedicated and rigorous training that he did prior to his evolution, he's already learned all that a Riolu would ever know, even if he doesn't _decide_ to utilize the moves that he knows.

_**(National Pokédex entry #448: Lucario, the Aura Pokémon. It is a Fighting-Type and a Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at approximately 3' 11" in height and weighs in at an average 119.0 lbs. A well-trained one can sense auras to identify and take in the feelings of creatures over half a mile away. Since he can observe 500 feet away effortlessly, he's capable of exceeding himself if he chooses to concentrate harder.)**_

Lucario's height and weight—despite the stated Pokédex entry—actually far _exceeded_ that of an average Lucario. He is actually 5' 2" in height—or 5' 9" if you include his ears—and weighs 150.0 lbs. exactly, a weight that is properly balanced with his height. His larger body size was an enigma to him.

A Lucario has black forepaws that end being black between the wrist and elbow and black hind paws that end being black just above the knees. All four paws have pink pads on them, for grip and protection. They have one white, bone spike on the upper side of the back of each of their wrists and one smaller, and rounder, spike directly located on top of their sternum. Alongside this exposed bone, their ears—with a black interior—, snout, and tails have grown significantly longer as well, compared to those of Riolu.

As for the yellow collar that they used to have in their previous form, it has turned into a yellow fur-colored torso, with an elevated fur collar. The black 'mask' that they used to have in their previous evolution has transformed as well. It has now turned into a black 'headband' with a black line that goes above the head and stretches between the ears and to the back of the head. They also have gained two more dreadlock-like appendages—two on the left side and two on the right side, resembling the excess cloth of a tied-on headband—, that are all behind the head and act as aura receptors when they're sensing aura.

Finally, their thighs have grown so much excess fur on them that they now can be best compared to blue, baggy parachute shorts. They also have a waistline that resembles a martial arts black belt, two thickly-furred "shoulder pads", and somewhat more menacing blood-red eyes.

Besides Riolu finally evolving into Lucario, he also learned many of the moves that any Lucario would be expected to learn, albeit not all of them, since he evolved only six months ago. He only knows four of these moves—ones that Tiny specified to him during his first day of his life—: BONE RUSH, METAL CLAW, ME FIRST, and especially AURA SPHERE.

Throughout his training and current age, he discovered an unusual fact about himself. He discovered that he never _forgets_ a move that he already knows. In other words, his move set repertoire exceeds four. As is the case with his body mass, this phenomenon is an enigma to him.

However, he's not the only Pokémon that has evolved…

The Grovyle that taught Riolu—Lucario—all that it knew about agility and jungle combat has evolved as well. After defeating a swarm of wild Pinsir with Lucario about two weeks ago, it has evolved from a Grovyle into a Sceptile.

_**(National Pokédex entry #254: Sceptile, the Forest Pokémon. It is a Grass-Type Pokémon that measures in at 5' 07" and weighs in at approximately 115.1 lbs. The leaves that grow on its arms can slice down thick trees. It is without peer in jungle combat. In short, Sceptile is virtually unbeatable in the forest.)**_

Sceptile is a lizard-like, Grass-Type Pokémon that's commonly nicknamed as the "King of the Forest" due to their fast leaping skill, nonpareil skill in jungle combat, highest speed and agility in the jungle out of any other forest dweller, and near parental-like care for the forests that they inhabit. They're mostly green in terms of skin color, except for the red waistline and red skin on their lower jaws. They have six yellow-colored seed-like nodules that grow on their back—like those on leguminous plants, which can assimilate nitrogen from the air. These nodules serve the purpose of reviving trees due to their high nutrition and as emergency food that re-grows within hours. They have yellow eyes with black pupils, and a thick, dark green tail that bears broad and resilient leaves. Finally, it has two long leaves protruding from each of its arms that are blade-like in sharpness, durability…and lethality.

When Grovyle evolved into a Sceptile, it was an unpredicted, yet much-sought-after event that it was looking forward to ever since Lucario had evolved. Sadly, since it has only been a Sceptile for two measly weeks, it hasn't had the chance to learn any new techniques yet. Nevertheless, it did promise Lucario that it would teach him all of the new moves it would learn once it does. And until it does, it'll keep training and sparring with him and Tiny, to grow stronger and further _evolve_ its martial acumen.

Tiny, for personal reasons, chose _not_ to evolve into a Lucario as well. It had four reasons for abandoning evolution:

Reason #1: it grew accustomed at the thought of being small and light thanks to its nickname.

Reason #2: it always wanted to become stronger as a Riolu and _only_ as a Riolu.

Reason #3: many Riolu that become Lucario grow more mature in terms of personality, often for worse.

And Reason #4: it always hated the thought of having sharp bone spikes protruding from it. It always thought that they'll get in the way with whatever it would be doing. It would find them difficult to sleep with, because it thought of them being self-hazardous.

Unfortunately for Tiny, evolution will always occur. Resisting and temporarily halting the process takes a massive toll on a Pokémon's stamina and energy. Fortunately, thanks to the dedication of both Lucario and Sceptile, it managed to obtain an Everstone—a unique hold-item with special properties that prevents evolution—among the massive forest. So as long as it has the stone nearby it for every waking morning, it will no longer have to fatigue itself with canceling evolution.

As for the Absol that swore to fight Lucario to the death, back when he was still a Riolu, it left the tree house after being fully healed after about a week of (reluctant) medicinal treatment, and left the forest without a trace of its physical being. However, it did leave behind a message to him prior to its leaving. It was a message that it wanted fulfilled.

_"I'll train in solitude far away from the forest for thirty months and come back _expecting_ you to have evolved before I return. I'll enhance my fighting skills and improve myself to the point of being your opposite. I hope for your sake that you'll grow enough in both age and experience to become a powerful Pokémon, as well a challenging opponent. Once I leave, spread the word of our eventual battle to the entire forest so that they'll enjoy a spectacle of a lifetime, as I decimate you before killing you. We'll meet on the Forest Cliffside and until then, I hope—for your sake only—you enjoy the remainder of your life."_

To the surprise of many residing Pokémon, Lucario _did_ do what Absol wanted him to do. He _did_ spread the word of this expected battle that will occur over the next thirty months. He _did_ grow as powerful as he physically and mentally could, and as quickly as he could, thanks to Sceptile's and Tiny's thoughtful training. All of this was to fight Absol to the death, and Lucario was oddly looking forward to it.

What could he find interesting over possible death? Over his training time, he considered Absol to be a rival, one that he hated with all his emotions, yet respected in the end. His friends, despite multiple attempts to make him think differently, eventually gave up on making him think otherwise.

And that was what occurred in the past thirty months. But now, the past is history, and the future has yet to be written. The present is the keypad utilized to write this future—my keypad.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Lucario's Subconscious<span>

From within the subconscious of the Aura Pokémon, unexplainable events and random dreams are always at play, as they should be.

However, for Lucario, that explanation of the subconscious can't describe his.

His subconscious wasn't as repeated and nowhere _near_ as random as any other Pokémon's, whether it would be human or Pokémon. Very often, the _exact_ same dream occurs for him and he can't ever go by a week without having that same dream pop out of hiding in his mind. It has been happening for one day of every single week of his life, and it hasn't stopped, not even after a Psychic-Type Pokémon devoured the dream with the DREAM EATER technique—and that _has_ been done under Lucario's wishes.

And today was another of those days in which he was experiencing that same dream, making this the _130__th_ time to date.

Within this recurring reverie, he was sitting down on the forest soil, with his legs crossed pensively, his paws placed together by the knuckles, and his arms resting on top of his legs. His sanguine eyes were concealed by his sable eyelids and he was meditating quietly.

After about a few minutes of peace and quiet in the lush green forest, Lucario concentrated on focusing his serenity into improving himself mentally and spiritually.

However, his ears twitched slightly as he detected an abnormality happening in the forest.

He could've sworn he heard crackling and very faint hissing sounds from farther inside the forest. He was thinking that those sounds were just from his imagination, until he smelled a type of scent that he knew for a fact should never to exist in this forest.

…Fire.

Without a moment to waste, he opened his eyes and quickly stood up, only to gaze in horror at what was occurring all around him to the forest in his dreams. The blue sky instantly turned black and red with toxic smoke. Every tree that was within his field of vision is set ablaze with a lethal conflagration. Every forest-dwelling Pokémon around him—including the Flying-Type Pokémon—tried to escape the inferno, but only about 60% of them actually succeeded. The remaining 40% of them burned—or began burning—to a crisp before falling to the floor…deceased due to sustained third-degree burns.

"_Oh my Arceus…_" He muttered to himself—in a newly-acquired, telepathic deep-voice—over the horrendous sight he was witnessing.

Immediately, from behind him, he sensed the presence of the surviving Pokémon escaping from something else. Turning around, he noticed what they were running from. Chasing after the helpless Pokémon was a group of about five or so shrouded humanoids, running with superior agility. The fire and smoke was so intense that they all appeared as pitch-black silhouettes beside the fire.

"_Who…are they?_" He muttered to himself, narrowing his sharpened eyes to get a slightly more focused look on the predators.

Despite the fact that they were mostly black when between the conflagrations, he was able to identify some unusual characteristics about them. He found out that they had on berets as a form of headgear, and a jumpsuit with boots. Unfortunately, that's about it, since they are sable and don't have any other colors on them.

"_Why are there…_people_ here?_" He soliloquized once more, still not taking his eyes away from them.

Once the human-resembling silhouettes were within ten feet of the fleeing Pokémon, an unusual characteristic amongst these enigmatic phantoms began to occur. The area on their faces, directly where their eyes should be, immediately opened up. A robotic, soul-piercing, incandescent red light appeared for their eyes.

And the instant that these sanguine eyes made contact with the Pokémon victims that the silhouettes were targeting, the Pokémon were immediately transformed into pure red energy before flying over to the chest of their predators. Once assimilated, their chests immediately emanated an incredibly ominous, and somewhat unexpected, thick and red capital letter "R".

"…" He was left wide-eyed and speechless at this first-person sight.

Once all five of the silhouettes had assimilated one Pokémon victim—the eerie red "R" radiating on their chests—, they let the remaining percentage of wild Pokémon leave and then they immediately targeted the speechless Aura Pokémon.

Immediately, Lucario became edgy.

"_Oh shit…_" were the only two words that his telepathic mind spoke.

Confused as to what the silhouettes' next choice of action was going to be, he decided not to stay in place for any longer and learn what they were capable of. He knew that he was outmatched—via a repetition of this same exact dream—and _literally_ ran like hell through the surviving forest in the opposite direction of the enigmatic figures, knowing that retaliation is immaterial and suicidal.

Unfortunately, he didn't notice that all five silhouettes slipped to the ground and into their shadows before traveling to Lucario at a far greater speed than he could run.

The silhouettes soon caught up to his shadow, and then keep on going onward about fifty feet ahead of him before they all reemerged from their respective shadows in a V-shape formation.

Lucario gasped at their sudden appearance and then he instantly ingrained both feet into the dirt, stopping a few feet away from the closest silhouette. Their bright, piercing red eyes and glowing R's on their chests were more than enough to keep him frozen in place with fear.

These abnormalities… They were neither human nor Pokémon. What they are, however, is dangerous.

"…" Lucario tried his hardest not to speak and even harder to not even _think_. He was now staring at the ominously stagnant silhouettes in front of him.

Many seconds passed where silence and rock-like stillness were the only two factors that all six of these atypical life forms had in common. But eventually, this stagnancy was broken.

Immediately, all five human-resembling silhouettes once again dropped down into their shadows. What happens next was something new to the dream—much to Lucario's surprise. The shadows all fused into one shadow, with a 70% increase in their overall size.

"…!" Lucario had a dropped jaw and a surprised countenance. "(What's going on here? This has never happened before!)" Lucario thought, knowing that this dream in _particular_ has taken a new route out of the norm.

Slowly, the newly fused shadow began to rematerialize into this third-dimensional world, with a similarity to surfacing lava.

"…" Lucario looked on at this turn of events.

As of now, the shadow had already exceeded four feet in height, and was beginning to form a humanoid shape. Slowly, legs began to form, as well as arms. As it eventually exceeded six feet in height and stopped growing further, a head began to shape itself.

Lucario couldn't help but be frightened at this new and ominous sight. Xenophobia was slowly strangling him in its chokehold.

As the shadow was finishing forming, it was growing more and more human, but the human it resembled was different. It appears to be dressed in chic clothing, wearing an orange-colored suit, with a white collared shirt and a red tie. It was wearing shoes just as equally upscale as its suit. Finally, it had an athletically stout appearance and it appeared to have short hair on the top of its head, combed backwards and well-groomed.

The Aura Pokémon was completely frozen in place.

Just like the other five silhouettes before it, this _super_-silhouette had two red lights for eyes, but with a considerable increase in intensity. They appeared to bathe Lucario in their red light.

"_Who…what _are_ you?_" he demanded, wanting an answer from the super-silhouette.

This new figure remained silent, and the only thing it did was lift its right hand and pointed to Lucario with one finger, coming within inches to poking him in the eye. Lucario stared at this finger apprehensively, never removing his gaze from it.

"I…want…" It said with multiple, demonic voices, the voices of the five merged silhouettes. "…You…"

The last thing Lucario saw was everything around him turning red, and the last thing that penetrated his ears was a high-pitched ringing. All of his other senses went blank.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Sceptile's Tree House (Lucario's Room)<span>

Estimated Time: Morning

With a blood-chilling scream of fear that rattled across the forest like a sharp shrill of a bird-like Pokémon, Lucario woke up and jerked his upper body perpendicular to the bed he was resting in. He was soaked to the skin in a cold sweat, hyperventilating with an elevated heart rate. He recalled how he stopped reacting so heavily to this recurring nightmare during his first few months of life, but now that was no longer the case, what with this new path that his dream guided him through.

Within seconds, Sceptile barged into the room, with the leaves on its arms emanating a bright green color. It was on guard, utilizing LEAF BLADE in case it was needed.

"What's going on in here?" It said while shifting its yellow eyes left and right, as if looking for someone that's responsible for Lucario's awakening outburst.

"(*Pant*)… (*Pant*)… (*Pant*)…" His breathing began to stabilize. "_It's all right, Sceptile. Nothing's going on here,_" He said with a reassuring smile. "_I just had that same nightmare again,_" he then stopped smiling and stared at Sceptile solemnly. "_Only this particular nightmare differed from the norm…_"

Sceptile remained quiet for a brief moment before speaking.

"Is that all?" It groaned in disappointment and dismissed its current LEAF BLADE technique—having the leaves on its arms reverting back to normal. "I thought that you shouted because that hostile Absol came back and decided to ambush you in your sleep."

"_If it _did_ decide to attack, I would never succumb to an ambush attack because, even though I'm asleep, I'm sufficiently vigilant._"

Sceptile rolled its eyes in annoyance. "I _know_ that already. You've told me enough times already."

It then decided to change the subject and say something else.

"How about something more pressing. You do remember that—"

"_Absol is coming back today,_" He stole the words that Sceptile was about to say by reading its mind.

The Forest Pokémon remained silent and didn't continue speaking. It never liked the idea of Lucario learning how to listen to thoughts from Tiny because now, Sceptile could no longer keep a secret.

"(I hate it when you do that…)"

"_I know you do,_" He smirked and chuckled a little.

Sceptile shook its head and sighed in defeat. "Just get your sweat-logged ass off of the bed already before you drown," It commanded before sniffing the surrounding air, and then wrinkling its scaly countenance. "You're starting to stink up the place."

"_I'll be going then._" Lucario said before getting off of the bed and jumping out of the window he made on the wall thirty months ago. Then, he proceeded over to the nearby waterfall within this forest, leaving the Forest Pokémon alone in his room.

Despite its frustration over his stalwart psychic capabilities, it couldn't help but smile and admire his capability of reading the thoughts of others. It secretly envied those exotic aura-based abilities and strongly desired learning them.

That smile faded when its eyes trailed off and pinpointed the puddle of sweat on the bed. "(I would think that I should be used to this by now…)" It thought before picking up the sheets and leaping out of the room by the window, going to the same waterfall and river that Lucario was going to, but for a different reason.

…A more _hygienic_ reason.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Waterfall<span>

The waterfall and river that was nearby Sceptile's place of residence was only about one minute away. Once Lucario reached the location, he saw the same exact place that he's come to remember. He recalls the eight-story-high waterfall rolling off of a cliff, the lake of clean, pristine water that had the same square area as that of a football field, and finally the river that stretched on for miles across the forest.

This was his ideal place for meditation. He would, on a daily basis, sit down directly below the roar of the waterfall, on a stone "island" that the waterfall always falls on, and allow the dozens of gallons of water that it drops every second to pound on top of him.

He stopped walking once he found himself between the lake and the waterfall. As he looked at both unique bodies of water back and forth, he had a bit of contemplation on what to do next. He could dive into the lake and take a morning swim or he could meditate below the waterfall for however long he desires—prior to his fight with Absol _today_ that is.

With either decision, he'll be cleaner than he was last night.

He made his decision. He eyed the rock that the waterfall was pounding away on and decided to meditate underneath it. However, just as he was about to swim across the body of water and towards the waterfall, he suddenly heard the presence of someone on the top of the cliff.

"(Somebody's there…)" he thought suspiciously.

Still having his eyes locked on the enigmatic figure on top of the cliff, his dreadlock-like appendages vibrated horizontally and defied gravity as they became perfectly parallel with each other. The veins within his eyes swelled with extra blood flow. The blood-red color of his eyes transmogrified into a pure gold color. Simultaneously, the facial blood vessels veiled by the black marking of his fur bulged with extra blood flow.

He was now using Aura Vision—or FORESIGHT as other Pokémon refer it by—, and was able to see the aura around and beyond what he normally saw.

Immediately, he identified the Pokémon on top of the cliff to be Tiny. He knew it was Tiny because of two reasons: Tiny's bipedal and its aura gives off the same, nostalgic colors that he has known for a long time. He sees the same yellow-green, orange, lavender, dark yellow and a grey color in its aura that has formed into a unique combination that only belongs to Tiny and it alone.

Once Tiny exposed itself from the cliff, Lucario didn't need to use the Aura Vision technique anymore and simply turned it off. Once off, his dreadlock-like appendages were once again under the influence of gravity and his eye color changed from the metallic gold color he has, back to their normal blood red color. His faced relaxed once the extra blood flow across his eyes and face faded away.

Tiny, despite the fact of standing on top of an eight-story-high cliff and waterfall, was able to notice Lucario below. To assure him that it did in fact see him, it waved briefly to him and said with a stronger tone of voice "Hey Lucario! Good morning!"

To make sure that he _did_ see Tiny and hear it, he also waved to the Emanation Pokémon and said only two words. "_Good morning!_"

Once that was out of the way, the Emanation Pokémon spread its arms out fully horizontal and jumped off of the cliff; and just before it finally landed on the lake below, it managed to do eight front flips before landing into the water, with the expertise of a cliff diver.

Lucario decided to stay put and take the cold water to the face, closing his eyes momentarily so that they would be spared the same fate as the fur on his fur. However, the water splashed his whole body rather than just his face. Lucario took this so that he would be more used to the shock of being bombarded by cold water.

He never enjoyed the cold.

Once Tiny resurfaced, Lucario said "_If I were a judge, I'd give you a nine out of ten._"

Tiny was a bit confused with its score. "Why don't you just give me a ten? What was wrong with my dive?"

He lifted his paw and raised one finger. "_One: I'm _not_ a judge._" He then lifted another finger, "_And_ _two: the score that I've given you is of little value._" He put his arm down and walked over to the waterfall, around the body of water that was the lake.

This left Tiny with the need to ask him something. "You know what?" it said while swimming around the lake's edge and staying nearby to the Aura Pokémon as he walked. "Ever since you've evolved about six months ago, you've quickly matured in terms of your personality."

Lucario was already within arm's length to the waterfall. He took out one paw and placed it below the waterfall, getting a feel for the force he'll be easily able to endure. "_And is that a good thing or a bad thing?_" He said with his eyes locked onto the paw he placed below the waterfall.

"Well…It depends on _how_ you've matured." It swam just nearby the boulder that was both where Lucario was on and where the waterfall was pounding away at, keeping a distance where it wouldn't have water fly at its eyes. "For example, when you were a Riolu, you were a cheerful and naïve little Pokémon that was full of hidden talent and capabilities, such as how you don't forget moves that you've learned and how you were able to use moves that I know for a fact a Riolu can never use, like LEAF BLADE and SOLARBEAM."

He put down his paw to his side and moved himself under the waterfall, already used to the downward pressure that it inflicts on his body. He sat down on the boulder, crossed his legs, curled up his paws, connected his knuckles to each other, rested his arms on his legs, and closed his eyes. "_Go on please,_" he said, cloaked underneath the veil of the waterfall.

What they didn't know, or at least _appeared_ to not know, was that Sceptile was at the opposite end of the lake, right where the river begins. It was washing Lucario's bed sheets for him, thinking to itself "(Do I do _everything_ for these two Pokémon?)" and "(Do they appreciate my acts of generosity?)"

Tiny just stayed there in the same spot, floating nonchalantly above the surface of the water.

"But now that you're a Lucario…" It paused for couple of seconds to gather up the words it planned on using. "…You've lost your naiveté, and you've become somewhat rude, haughty, and occasionally laconic." It wrinkled its face at him, almost as if it was pissed off at the Aura Pokémon's current attitude.

"_Isn't that how _any_ Lucario is naturally?_" He droned and _still_ maintained his statue-like posture.

"(Well how should _I_ know? I'm not a Lucario!)" Tiny thought.

"_Of course you're not… I'm the only Lucario resident within this forest._" He said, having heard Tiny's thoughts with ease.

Once again, Tiny was speechless, but not for long because it realized fully what Lucario said.

"You _do_ have a point," it admitted. Then, it turned around and decided to ask Sceptile a question. "Hey Sceptile!" It shouted to it.

Sceptile paused doing what it was doing and looked at the source of the voice, "Yeah?"

"You're about as old as I am, right? Eight years old?"

"Yes!"

"Before you met me and made that tree house of yours, while you traveled across the planet before settling down here, did you ever encounter another Lucario?"

Sceptile crossed his arms, in a manner that doesn't have the blade-like leaves on his arms slice each other in half, and stared at the water below, almost in a self-made mental trance.

"(Well… There _was_ this one light-furred Lucario that nicknamed itself 'Wanderer'… I remember giving that Pokémon some of the Nanab Berries that I've collected one day and it traveled with me for a few days before going off on its own path. That was when I was a newly-evolved Grovyle, about six years ago…)" It trailed off in its own thoughts, across a long path down Memory Lane.

"Sceptile!" Tiny boomed to get his attention.

"Huh? What?" It snapped out of its memory trance and remembered what Tiny asked from it. "As a matter of fact, I did!"

"Was it naturally somewhat rude, haughty, and occasionally laconic?" It shouted, repeating how it described Lucario.

"…" Sceptile formed its pondering stance again and stared at the water below once more and rethought about Wanderer. "(Hmm… It _was_ somewhat rude, haughty, and occasionally laconic. But, it wasn't _completely_ like… No, it wasn't like that at _all_. It was very well-mannered, polite…although a bit serious on occasion. It also knew some stories about Legendary Pokémon and how it met a few of them. It also said that it picked up an ancient language along its travels. If I recall correctly, it said it only sparred with one of those Legendary Pokémon, one that was its exact type-opposite. And that Pokémon's name was Ho—)"

Sceptile was cut short of its pondering when Tiny splashed its face with water, having swum up to the Forest Pokémon to avoid yelling from across the lake.

"What the hell!" It didn't like the sudden change of events.

"Are you mentally digressing off again?" Tiny shouted, despite being five feet away from it.

"…" Sceptile tried to think of a good response, and luckily for the impatient Tiny, it didn't take as long. "So what if I am?"

"You've been doing that ever since you've evolved after that wild Pinsir ambush!"

"Hey, If you got a concussion from them hitting you dead center on the crown of your head," It pointed at the very top of its head.

"Well I've never gotten a concussion in my life, so I—"

Without them knowing, a bright orb of concentrated aura was fired at them. It impacted the water that was five feet away from them both and caused a ten-foot-high pillar of water to rise and spread out far. Once the pillar receded, it left behind two soused Pokémon. The source of the AURA SPHERE stood before them _on the surface of the water_.

"_Can you both argue about something that is worthy of purpose rather than this immaterial prattle?_" He said with crossed arms and a bone-dry serious look on his face.

"…" Both drenched Pokémon seemed to have mollified, the cold water drowning their heated spite.

Lucario continued. "_When I meditate, I don't just sit down and breathe, I also listen to whatever's going on around my surroundings and if needed, listen closely._"

Sceptile was removing the excess water off of its arms and tail as it listened to Lucario.

Tiny, whom was still in the water, didn't seem to care about the water. "And…your point is?"

"_I read Sceptile's mind,_" he said laconically, unchanged in facial appearance.

"…" Sceptile was having highly mixed feelings about if reading the thoughts of anyone was a valuable asset or an immaterial ability.

"I'm guessing by your smirk that you found the answer that I wanted, right."

Lucario just nodded three times in agreement.

"What did you find from my thoughts?" Sceptile said, still deciding on the importance of this powerful ability.

"_You met another Lucario that nicknamed itself 'Wanderer'. You gave it some of the Nanab Berries that you've gathered throughout your travels and offered it temporary hospitality. It said it faced a Legendary Pokémon. You also thought that Wanderer wasn't fully negative. You thought that it was very polite and a delight to have around you for the time being._"

"…" Tiny pondered the emotions of the mentioned Lucario that was nicknamed Wanderer.

Sceptile closed its eyes and nodded slowly, realizing that mind reading was an invaluable ability.

"_And this answer was found _instantly_ without the need for excessive noise or violence: any Lucario can be emotionally positive, but only when they want to be and not in excess._" He stepped towards the surface and picked up the bed sheets that Sceptile had washed for him and was about to walk back home to leave them there to dry, but stopped before the Forest Pokémon.

"_Before I return home, I also paid attention about the doubts of your services. We _do_ appreciate your generosity, and you don't do everything for us._" He gave Sceptile a comforting pat on the shoulder and then jumped up high onto a branched on a nearby tree. Then, he hopped across them with great speed, having it to thank for heightening its agility in the forest. He left behind a trail of water as he progressed, his fur drying off in the wind with each stride.

"…" Sceptile began to get teary-eyed, however the water on its face made it difficult to see if it was actually crying.

"You know, it is right about how we appreciate your help." Tiny said before getting out of the lake, ruffling its fur to remove clinging water, and then following Lucario.

Sceptile took a moment to pause to regain its composure. It smiled, removed the tears from below its eyes with its claws, and then followed both Pokémon home.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Sceptile's Tree House (Outside)<span>

Lucario, being the first Pokémon to leave the waterfall, was the first Pokémon to return back to Sceptile's dwelling. He hung his bed sheets on a nearby branch and left them there to dry.

His stomach began growling at him. He knew it was time for breakfast, and he has yet to eat something.

"(There better be some Sitrus Berries left over…)" He muttered in his thoughts.

Once at the kitchen, he found the wooden box that stores their gathered Berries in. Opening the lid, he curiously looked at the contents of the box. Within its wooden confines existed a few Magost Berries—Tiny's favorite—, a couple of Figy Berries, four Nanab Berries—Sceptile's favorite—, two Rawst Berries, dozens of Oran Berries, three Sitrus Berries—Lucario's favorite—, and two Lum Berries.

He began to hum to himself while deciding what to eat. Normally, he would go straight for the Sitrus Berries on any other day. But this isn't a normal day. For all Lucario could know, this could be the last day of his life because of the eventual and inevitable fight with Absol.

He never bothered to think that way though, so as to not lose confidence in himself. The only thought that he thought of, relating to his fight, was that he was going to pry Absol's mouth open with his bare hands, and then stuff an AURA SPHERE down its throat in order to permanently end its life.

So, instead of choosing the Sitrus Berries for the umpteenth time, he grabbed the Figy Berry instead, despite its strong—but not _Spelon_ Berry strong—spiciness. He closed the wooden box, and then sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, staring curiously at the Berry.

"(When was the last time I had one of _you_ for breakfast?)" He thought briefly while staring at the bottle-shaped Figy Berry that he was holding.

Biting off the top and swallowing it whole—getting a taste for the somewhat plain skin—he then drank the juice of the Figy Berry that it had stored within its center. Its taste can be best compared to hot sauce, but with significantly more flavor and filling. Within his mind, he compared the flavor to all of the other food items that he's devoured or drank as a beverage and found the Figy Berry to be above average. Finally, he finished the Berry by eating the skin in a few bites.

Within seconds, both Tiny and Sceptile arrived home and came inside the house, as dry as Lucario when he came in earlier.

Both Pokémon that arrived at the same time retrieved their favorite Berries for breakfast from the wooden box. Tiny held two Magost Berries, one in each paw. Sceptile, despite its large stature, only grabbed one Nanab Berry. They both began to chip away at their flesh of their chosen Berries with their teeth, enjoying the flavors of their favorite fruit.

Lucario decided to get the last remaining Figy Berry from the wooden box. He began to devour it in the same exact manner as before. In the middle of that, a thought related to Tiny emerged in his mind. He recalled the dark yellow color of aura that Tiny had, and decided to ask about it, since he noticed it showed much greater intensity than normal.

"_Hey Tiny,_" Lucario said, simultaneously chewing on the Figy Berry, with no evidence of a muffled voice because he was using telepathy to speak. "_Can I inform you about something important?_"

Tiny turned its head to face the telepathic voice's source before swallowing the remaining piece of the first Magost Berry in its mouth. "Did you say something?"

"_Yes. I asked you if I can inform you—_"

"Sure, go ahead," Tiny interrupted with a smile and a bit of enthusiasm.

"(Hmm… How should I phrase this sentence appropriately…)" He thought for a moment before coming out with what he wanted to say. "_I sensed the dark yellow aura emanating from you _triple_ in output. From what you've taught me, when aura emanates dark yellow in terms of color, it represents unforgivable anger at someone or something._"

"…" That smile of its immediately faded into a serious straight line on its face.

Sceptile was just lying back on the wall and listening to what both blue Pokémon had to say. It unpeeling the Nanab Berries that it had on its clawed hands before eating away at the fruit.

"_Today is the day that Absol told me that it would return and fight me to the death. Is there some link between you and Absol that you've kept secret between us?_"

"…Uh…" Tiny was left speechless by how accurate Lucario's facts were.

About ten seconds passed before Lucario spoke again. "_Well?_" He said before chewing and swallowing the last piece of the second Figy Berry that he was holding in his paw. He was expecting an answer relating to what his mentioned facts described, but wanted to _hear_ them, and not read them from Tiny's thoughts. That way, it was no longer a private matter that he was intruding upon.

"…" Tiny sighed with a closed mouth and placed the second Magost Berry that it had in its hand on the kitchen table. It then sat down on one of its chairs and began to speak about its past. "It's about time I talked about _my_ past."

* * *

><p>(Tiny's Flashback)<p>

_Five years ago…_

Within the center of a forest, Tiny and a group of ten Riolu resided in tranquility. All of them were similar in terms of age. During this particular time, the Riolu that Tiny lived alongside with were only a few months old, naïve and inexperienced.

To help overcome their current neophyte status, they were all sparring against each other in friendly duels, teaching each other what they knew. Tiny was often the sparring target, defending against each punch and kick that the other Riolu threw at it.

_"I was only about three years old, and I was completely responsible for the safety of ten inexperienced Riolu. I was their leader. They depended on me." Tiny narrated from within the flashback._

Tiny left the group and leaped from tree branch to tree branch to reach a secret area of the forest that only it knew about. That secret area was about two miles away and was filled with multiple plants that grew multiple types of Berries.

_"I was a sincere and status-conscious leader, who always put the manageable needs of my group ahead of my own."_

Tiny plucked one Berry from each plant for each Riolu in the group, picking one for itself last—one Magost Berry. It went back to the group by hopping across branches on the top of the trees, careful so as to not drop one single Berry. However, if it did fumble, it would simply drop down and retrieve it.

_"However," Tiny spoke once more, only with a more melancholy tone. "Once I came back to my group, tragedy occurred."_

_"_What kind of a tragedy?_" Lucario questioned._

_ "I bet I know…" Sceptile muttered under its voice._

_ "(*Sigh*)" Tiny's voice almost came to the point of cracking. "Once I got back to my group…"_

Tiny stopped hopping across the branches and came down to the forest floor, only being about twenty feet away from the group of Riolu. However, once Tiny reached the group, it was immediately filled with shock.

_"…everybody was dead, their corpses scattered on the floor, staining the soil red with their blood."_

Every single Riolu was dead right on the forest floor—as Tiny recalled—, horribly mutilated, with arms and legs scattered across the group, and a pool of blood large enough to run as a river.

Tiny dropped all of the Berries that it was holding and was suddenly filled with so much nausea that it vomited, crying in sadness afterwards.

_"Bodies were rent. Blood ran down like a creek. I swore I threw up heavily."_

Once Tiny stopped crying and heaving in tandem, it immediately noticed two important factors from this current scene, despite its hardest attempts in not doing so because of the emotional pain that it was constantly inflicting onto it.

It noticed that the victims each bore massive cuts across their body, mostly around their torso. The cuts looked clean and precise, likely to have come from something sharp and blade-like. Besides that ghastly sight, it also noticed that, of the ten Riolu, only nine were scattered across the forest.

One of them was missing.

_"And just as I thought that things couldn't get any worse, I met—"_

_ "Let me guess…Absol?" Sceptile interrupted._

_ "Unfortunately…" Tiny's voice cracked and the floodgates opened within its eyes._

Immediately, Tiny heard a sound from behind it. Turning around, it was immediately afraid of the Absol behind it, but it wasn't because of its sudden presence. It was what it had on it.

Within its jaws was the neck of the tenth Riolu. The remainder of its body dangled from its jaws.

_"It had one of the ten Riolu on its mouth," Tiny calmed down momentarily, but not sufficiently. "That Riolu was only seconds away from death because it was missing an arm and both legs."_

_ "…" Both listening Pokémon were quiet. They were both imaging the scene that Tiny must've witnessed, and getting a new viewpoint at how malicious the Absol that they all knew about _truly _was._

As Absol stepped closer to the terrified Emanation Pokémon, and as Tiny was shuffling back in fear, Tiny could hear the faint, shallow breathing of the inopportune Riolu.

"Help…me…" It managed to say before finally going limp, once Absol's teeth dug into its neck deeper, penetrating its spinal cord at the back of its neck.

Tiny heart almost stopped beating when it saw the last Riolu of its group die—especially since this is the only one that it _witnessed_ die.

_"After the last Riolu in my group died, I began to have nightmares for a month after seeing what occurred next."_

Once the Absol no longer felt a pulse from the neck of the Riolu in its mouth, it clamped its jaws further into the body, easily _splitting_ it into three bloody segments. The torso and the head fell to the ground, separate and lifeless. The neck of the deceased was still in Absol's jaws, but not for long because it spat the dead Riolu's neck out of its mouth. Its mouth was flooded with the blood of the Riolu, as well as its front paws. Both dripped down onto the forest floor, absorbed by the soil immediately.

_"That Absol bit the dead Riolu into three parts." Tiny melancholically said, having the two other Pokémon listening to it almost lose their appetite._

_ "(How malicious…)" Sceptile thought, knowing now about Absol's and Tiny's past._

Tiny was just full of grief now. Its face was full of tears and it was hyperventilating uncontrollably, but remained stationary and didn't even speak. It attempted to vomit a few more times, but its stomach was already emptied of its contents. The Absol just continued to stare at the Riolu, eyes more sanguine than the blood on the soil, and soon it decided to speak to Tiny.

_"Then, it spoke to me…"_

"I won't kill you yet." It said, revealing the Riolu's blood that had stained its mouth to Tiny. "You don't seem strong enough yet, especially after your little downpour."

_"…and decided to walk away with no signs of repent of its actions."_

It felt like it said enough and walked off to the right side of Tiny, not even showing any form of guilt in any way whatsoever to the genocide that it just committed. "(Perhaps if we meet again…)" The Absol thought to itself.

As Tiny watched it walk away, it felt such sudden spite that it wants to end that Pokémon's life right here and now. However, it had enough of a survival instinct to know that if it fought that Absol now, it would die, alongside its fellow brethren. The Riolu that Absol slaughtered were no match for it.

What would guarantee Tiny to be any more of a match than they were?

After a few minutes of mental despair, Tiny decided to cremate its dead comrades. It piled up the dead bodies together, somehow figuring out where each mutilated limb belonged to in the process by matching the mutilation injuries. It then covered the corpses with the surplus of fallen leaves until only the leaves themselves were visible, and not the blood or the corpses underneath.

Finally, it made a fire by rubbing two sticks forcefully together and then throwing the lit sticks to the pile of leaves. Immediately, the fire spread and quickly covered the entire pile of leaves and bodies in scorching heat. The surrounding trees were in no ways close enough or low enough to catch fire.

Tiny continued to stare at the fire that was cremating its comrades, finding it somewhat difficult to do so with waterlogged eyes. It picked up all of the Berries that it dropped earlier and decided to throw them all in the fire as well, finding no need in eating fruit that belonged to them. It kept its Magost Berry and looked on at the fire and the fruit simultaneously.

_"As I continued to stare at the fire I made to cremate my departed comrades, I vowed to avenge them and kill the Absol responsible, once I've grown strong enough."_

* * *

><p>(End of Tiny's Flashback)<p>

"And after the cremation, I came across the tree house that belonged to Sceptile when it was still a Grovyle. It wasn't too long afterwards."

"You were bawling when we first met," Sceptile recalled. "I took pity in you and allowed you to live with me in my home, as long as you did _your_ share of the chores."

"_Hmm…_" Lucario put all that Tiny spoke of itself and Absol approximately five years ago, and then he spoke to Tiny. "_Well, that explains how you met that ominously nostalgic Absol, as well as how that dark yellow color formed within your aura. But that _still_ doesn't explain why that dark yellow aura color of yours has tripled in size._"

"It's because…" Tiny said, pausing to bet a better chain of words to use. "…Because I've wanted that Absol dead by _my_ hands. I've wanted to kill it because I've lost more from it than _you_ have."

"_I had lost half of my total amount of blood and a good chunk of skin from my torso when I first met Absol._"

"And all of that was rejuvenated _perfectly_ within a week!" Tiny shouted unnecessarily, with a rather angry tone of voice. "You don't even have a scar to show what Absol did to you!"

Lucario put a paw on his torso and stared at the area where the claw marks from Absol's claw swipe landed. Tiny _did_ have a point about how his body healed to perfection. He didn't have a scar, or even a patch of fur missing from the wounded area. "(How queer…)" He thought to himself, removing his gaze and his grip on his torso.

"I've lost my _entire_ group because of it!" Tiny continued. "I've got more to fight for than you do!"

Lucario looked back at Tiny, not caring at all that he was being shouted at. "_You're pissed off at that Absol, and not me, am I right?_" He said with a calm countenance.

"…Yes…" Tiny calmed himself upon the realization that it was shouting at one of its closest friends.

"_Is it because it saw me as a better target and chose to fight against me, because I was much more stalwart than you?_"

Tiny grabbed the Magost Berry that it placed down earlier. Then, it looked down at the ground in disappointment, dropping a few tears onto the ground in the process. "Y-yes…" Its voice was cracking up mildly and its breathing was beginning to become irregular once again. "(I should've just killed that Absol when it was still recovering, and I should've just left it to die when you shattered its jaw with an AURA SPHERE)."

"_Then why didn't you?_" Lucario was paying attention to its thoughts. "_Back when you and I first met, why didn't you finish Absol off when you had the chance?_"

"…" it immediately brought up its head in realization on its actions.

"Seriously, why _didn't_ you?" Sceptile said, curious as to what possible reason Tiny might have. "You had me carry it home and nurse its injuries. Why would you want that?"

"…Because… Because I… I wanted to fight it…in perfect condition." It said feebly.

Both Lucario and Sceptile wrinkled their foreheads in confusion.

"Despite…what it did…to my friends… I felt like…the honorable…and _moral_ thing to do…was to allow Absol…to recover…prior to fighting it." Tiny wiped away the tears that it was shedding, using the paw that wasn't holding the Magost Berry.

"…" Sceptile was unsure if the decision that Tiny made was good or bad in the long run.

Lucario thought deeply about Tiny's reasoning. "(To not attack an opponent when they're down and vulnerable… It's fair and honorable, but it depends on the enemy that you're fighting.)"

"But that's enough of my needs and choices," Tiny got off of its chair and placed the Magost Berry on top of the table. The expression on its face seemed clear and stable, compared to what it was a few minutes ago. "Let's get to the point of what's most important today."

"Lucario's battle today with that Absol, am I right?" Sceptile said.

Tiny nodded, and then it left the kitchen and went up the stairs to its room for something. It came back down after about a minute, holding a backpack that it made with its own two hands. It was professionally woven out of grass and straw, and was just as resilient as any man-made backpack. It was large enough to store up to twenty medium-sized Berries, more than what the wooden box had at the moment.

"I was working on this particular backpack for this upcoming battle." Tiny said before giving the backpack to Lucario. "I figure you should carry as many Berries as physically possible that can heal or support you in battle."

Lucario got up and walked only a few steps over to the wooden box. He opened the box, grabbed about six of the Oran Berries inside of it, all three Sitrus Berries, and the two Lum Berries that were inside the box. He placed them all inside of the backpack and then strapped it to his…back.

"You never know. You might need them."

"_Thank you, Tiny,_" He said, liking how well-made the backpack is.

Sceptile was just as impressed with the construction of the backpack as well.

"It took me a few days to make it. I figure it'll be the only support that I'll be allowed to give you."

"_No its not,_" Lucario laconically replied.

"Why's that?" Tiny said with some dubiousness.

"_With all of the training that I've inherited from you, that's already a great amount of support from you._" He smiled at Tiny because of all of the work he had to go through to be here at this moment.

Tiny, out of happiness, couldn't help but jump up and hug him from his right side, avoiding hugging him from the front, because if it decided to hug him that way, there would be a likely probability that its heart would become punctured by Lucario's chest-spike.

Sceptile almost cooed at the cute sight. It seemed almost brotherly how Tiny looked up to Lucario, despite Tiny being over five years older than him.

Lucario waited about a minute for Tiny to let go of his torso and drop back down on the floor. When he grew impatient he said "_Okay, let go now_" before prying it off of him and putting him back down on the floor. The hug didn't bother him, but the duration of it did.

"Sorry, I got a little carried away." Tiny grinned and scratched the back of its neck in embarrassment, coming close to blushing red underneath its blue fur, but didn't.

"Let's get the hell out of here then," Sceptile said. "Absol's probably waiting for you now, Lucario."

With those final words, they immediately got out of their home and traveled over the branches to the location that Absol told Lucario when he still was a Riolu: the Forest's Cliffside.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Forest (Cliffside)<span>

The location of the inevitable battle was located on a somewhat far off and precarious area of the forest. That area was located right nearby the cliff—emphasis on the name "Cliffside"—and had about a good portion of land nearby the cliff exposed, with no trees or plants on it at all.

The only thing that it did have on its surface was rock-hard dirt and a one-inch-thick coating of sand on the surface.

But that was the description of the Cliffside on a _normal_ day, and _today_ wasn't exactly normal.

Today, there were numerous Pokémon nearby the Cliffside, residing behind the forest area, not around the Cliffside for fear that the protruding slab of rock might break under their combined weight. There were many different Pokémon species present, all of varying attributes, all eager to see a gruesome fight to the death.

As expected, Absol was there amongst them, residing on the edge of the cliff. It was on its belly, curled legs and tail dropped on the dirt, staring down at the immense forest landscape below.

The fall below from the Cliffside appeared to be about 1,000 feet in height. There was a surplus of trees, shrouding the forest floor below. The trees were mostly branches and leaves, and because of their height, they added about 100 feet to the fall, if one was unfortunate to plummet to their death. And because the floor was concealed underneath, there was no way to be sure what exactly a victim would fall _on_. It could be the dirt, or it could be a body of water. From above, it was difficult to tell.

However, Absol noticed that there was a waterfall to its right side. It didn't necessarily have to look to its right to notice that. Its blade-like appendage proved sufficient in allowing it to listen to the pouring water.

"(There must've been a natural occurrence in my absence.)" Absol thought to itself, choosing not to mutter to itself because its mouth was concealed under its forearms. "(This waterfall wasn't here before.)"

Absol seemed to pay more attention to the beautiful view than the throng of Pokémon eagerly awaiting a duel to the death. Absol didn't even seem to pay attention to the group of _Riolu_ amongst the crowd. There were about eight of them together, all of them new to this forest, and they were playing contently with a few Watmel Berries—their rubber ball-like qualities—until the battle commenced.

But these Riolu weren't stupid, far from it really. They were well-informed of Absol because they have heard the facts of it killing their species for reasons unknown. They had protection from the other, adolescent Pokémon that were present alongside them.

Beside the eight Riolu amongst the crowd, there was also a Lucario there, only one actually.

This particular Lucario hails from the mountains, the most likely place for them to reside in. The colors of its fur were significantly different than that of a normal Lucario—perhaps due to the cold habitat that it came from. The colors of the fur on a normal Lucario—black, blue, and yellow—were not present at all on this mountain-dwelling one. It had silver fur instead of black fur, sky blue fur instead of blue fur, and snow white fur instead of silver fur. Its eyes were still the same sanguine color that a normal-colored Lucario would have, but that wasn't the case with its chest-spike and both paw-spikes. They were transformed from a normal bone white color to a _gold_ color. This was only present on its external bones, and not its internal bones.

What this particular Lucario was doing, as of now in a place far from home, was pacing across the floor impatiently until the main event would commence.

After about a few more minutes of tedious waiting and commotion amongst the crowd of diverse Pokémon, Lucario, Tiny, and Sceptile finally arrived to the forest's Cliffside. They landed right behind the immense throng of Pokémon and for a brief moment, no one turned around. However, by some unknown reason, one Pokémon made an about-face, and eventually, everyone else did, including Absol, but no one saw it doing so.

Without anything louder than some small discussions, all of the Pokémon spread apart to two sides as if they were two gate doors. They knew that this was the moment that they've been waiting for and they wanted to make sure no time was wasted on it.

Lucario immediately saw Absol ahead, giving him that grave stare that it has given him before since the day that they first met. Lucario didn't seem particularly nervous about fighting Absol. Only the end result—where one Pokémon lives and the other one dies—was what worried him somewhat.

Tiny read and sensed the uneasiness in Lucario's mind—and so did the mountain-dwelling Lucario as well as the eight Riolu. It gave Lucario's left arm one abated tug, simply to get Lucario to look at it.

"Just focus on the battle and not the result," Tiny looked up at him and assured him.

Sceptile spoke up as well. "You'll fight better if that's what only in your mind."

"_Thanks,_" he said just one perfectly-fitted word before walking towards and crossing across the parted "Red Sea" of Pokémon that were in front of him.

The Pokémon looked on at him, some of them even _applauding_ him. They reassembled themselves as they already were once Lucario got across them. Both Tiny and Sceptile placed themselves within the crowd, acting as spectators for this fight. Tiny squeezed itself through the Pokémon throng and moved up front, just next to the eight Riolu.

Once it noticed their presence, without the Riolu group looking back at it, Tiny was hit with a massive blow of déjà-vu and mentally sent back through time to the point where it was leader of the group of ten Riolu, before they were murdered by Absol.

"(*Sigh*) I miss those days…" It whispered to itself before turning back to Lucario.

Sceptile just moved to an area of the back row of the group, easily being able to see without any interference or blocking of view of any kind. However, just like Tiny, it noticed someone amongst this group to its left: the mountain-dwelling Lucario. Sceptile gave one brief glimpse to it before it could look back and was suddenly overcome with déjà-vu.

"(That Lucario… Is it who I think it is?)" It thought with mild skepticism.

Once that Absol saw Lucario after thirty months of martial solitude, the first words that came out of its mouth were "My Arceus, you've gotten tall, haven't you?" in a surprised tone of voice.

"Ugh…" He groaned with his regular voice, having been told this _hundreds _of times alreadyin his life. He was 5' 09", almost two feet taller than an average Lucario, and practically _all_ Pokémon took this into notice when he evolved. "_Anything _else_ you want to say?_" Lucario said, hoping for a response that doesn't involve his body height.

Absol was _still_ thinking at how tall he was, compared to all of the Lucario that it's met in its life. However, it was snapped out of its trance and spoke once more. "I hope your last thirty months of life were spent on what I've told you to do," it said, beginning to form a grin.

As if those were the magic words that Lucario wanted to hear, it held out both paws in the air, almost as though it was being rewarded a sword from someone. What occurred next _does_ involve weaponry however, but it came from Lucario himself. He channeled a small percentage of his aura above his extended paws and within three seconds, a four-foot-long, light blue staff, in the shape of a femur bone, emerged before his paws. He grabbed it quickly and twirled it around himself skillfully before slamming one end of it onto the ground. He managed to intimidate a few of the Pokémon in the audience with his BONE RUSH technique, as well as receive a bit of awe.

"_Well, you tell _me_,_" It said before holding the aura-made staff like a spear, keeping it to his right side, one end pointed directly towards Absol.

The Disaster Pokémon specifically remembered and told him that it wanted to see something surprising or unique from the Aura Pokémon. "I'm not impressed," it exhaled when saying those words.

"_Well, this is only the beginning, and I've got a whole repertoire of techniques at my disposal, just _begging_ me to use them on you._"

Without any sort of warning, the blade-like appendage on the right side of Absol's face began glowing in the very same white light that Lucario—as well as Tiny—remembers a little too well. However, the light Absol was generating was causing its blade-like appendage to grow to nearly _triple_ its length, engorged with energy.

_Battle! Elite Four/Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald/Junichi Masuda _

_(Song Begins)_

"(…_That's_ new…)" Lucario and Tiny thought simultaneously.

Without any more needless pre-battle conversation, the first attack was fired. Absol swept its head quickly to one side and fired a massive blade of wind dead-center towards Lucario. It didn't even bother to roar, grunt, or say "RAZOR WIND" when attacking. The only sound audible was the gale of concentrated wind flying towards Lucario.

He was already prepared to react to the attack. Expertly spinning the BONE RUSH staff like the propeller on an airplane, he managed to fully nullify the RAZOR WIND attack and dissipate it into the wind.

The audience was somewhat impressed at this display of defense.

"_Is that all you can do?_"

A bit of anger formed inside the Disaster Pokémon. It fired about five more RAZOR WIND attacks in rapid succession towards the taunting Lucario, almost pulling a nerve on its neck in the process.

Just like before, all of the blows were nullified by well-timed spin-blocks. One almost came close to inflicting damage, but he managed to catch it on time. Once the second failed onslaught was complete, the aura staff that Lucario had generated disappeared, the BONE RUSH technique only working for a limited amount of time.

"(I always hated how limited the existence of BONE RUSH is…)" He stared at the paws that used to wield the technique, and then looked back at Absol. "_That's still substandard, Absol!_" Lucario said.

"(Hmm… The reflexes of this particular Lucario are…above-average.)" Absol thought as the light of its blade-like appendage faded away and disappeared.

"_You impressed with my reaction time?_" He paid attention to what Absol was thinking and decided that the momentary ceasefire was the perfect time to reveal his second weapon in his arsenal: his METAL CLAWs.

Manipulating the structure of the paw-spikes that he has obtained since his evolution, static electricity began to fly from them. He caused them to glow in the almost identical white light that Absol formed on its crescent-shaped growth. In seconds, the spikes grew and split into three separate twelve-inch-long sharp claws, their white light and static sparking having faded away after the transformation.

"If you desire alienating yourself from any other Lucario that I've met in my life, you're going to have to do _much_ better than that," It said with a bit of a smart-ass tone.

"(That's not going to be a problem…)" Lucario thought. He formed a stance with both of his METAL CLAWs pointing forward, and hid the fact that he possesses plenty of moves in his arsenal that easily separates himself from any other Lucario.

Sceptile figured that Lucario was saving the stronger moves that he learned from its teachings for later. "(Don't reveal your hand until the time is right… Smart strategy…)" It thought to itself.

Without wasting anytime, Lucario charged towards Absol, closing the gap in their distance in seconds. He accurately slashed away at Absol, and to his surprise, Absol managed to avoid every single blow with ease. Getting mildly irritated at Absol's agility, he became a bit more aggressive with his attacks. He added double claw swipes, a few forward thrusts, and a few uppercuts.

Absol flipped out of the way and away from Lucario, leaving him to stop temporarily.

"(It has spent countless moments of time perfecting its agility…)" Lucario thought before causing his METAL CLAWs to revert to normality.

"(What are you planning next?)" Absol thought with interest.

"(What can _I_ do to abate Absol's agility?)" Lucario thought, still paying attention to Absol, watching it closely. He pondered what he knew and how he could use it. He came up with a plan and thought "(Let's see how this works…)" before setting his plan into action.

Absol was still waiting patiently, for reasons unknown.

Knowing what to do next, Lucario held out his right paw and aimed its palm dead-center to Absol's countenance and then focused an orb of aura on his palm. The paw was suddenly bent towards the ground before Absol could ponder what Lucario was doing.

"_FORCE PALM!_" Lucario gave no warning when he slammed his right palm to the ground, releasing a mild shockwave and a _massive_ cloud of raised dust that instantly assimilated Absol right where it stood. And then as a follow-up, Lucario jumped back about three feet and began to immediately channel enormous amount of his own aura in the form of green light. The light alone was enough to earn a good amount of commotion, as well as the interest from the mountain-dwelling Lucario.

The light emanating from the Aura Pokémon was so intense that not only was it extending to about two feet away from anywhere of Lucario's body, it was also causing the earth to rumble, as well as cutting its way through the sand cloud that Absol was in.

"Whatever that green light is for, it'll be all for naught," Absol thought with a smirk after seeing the bright green light.

In an instant, every bit of the green light that Lucario was generating was concentrated into its paws, the rumbling of the earth subsiding in the process. He brought his paws forward, forming a circle between his digits…

"_SOLARBEAM!_"

…And fired a powerful laser of energy that easily punctured the sand cloud and went onward for about a mile before crashing into a far-off mountain, trimming off its summit _explosively_ in the process.

Lucario got down on one knee for a brief moment. It was quite obvious that the powerful attack did take its toll on his overall aura capacity, but he simply needed to catch his breath.

"(I am _incredibly_ fortunate to have had Tiny teach me how to assimilate the aura from my surroundings.)" Lucario thought before getting back up on both feet. "(Tiny, if you're reading my mind at this moment, thank you for your teachings.)"

He bent his arm back and reached into his backpack for an Oran Berry. He inserted it into his mouth and began to chew on it before swallowing, immediately feeling a good percentage of his energy rejuvenated back into him.

"(You're welcome,)" Tiny was in fact, reading Lucario's mind.

Sceptile was astounded by how devastating the attack was—despite the fact that _it_ taught Lucario how to use SOLARBEAM—and so was the _entire_ crowd. However, once the cloud of sand settled enough into the earth, the result that was revealed was highly shocking to _everyone_.

Instead of a fainted Absol—or at least a _vaporized_ Absol due to how powerful the SOLARBEAM attack was—, they saw…nothing. There was (bad pun alert!) _Absol-_utely no sign of its presence once the sand cloud settled down.

Only a hole in the ground was present, a sigh that Absol dug below to escape the attack.

"(Damn…)" Lucario thought once he walked towards the dug hole on the ground and looked down. "(To use DIG on rock-hard dirt… you've trained as hard as I have for this battle, Absol…)"

He then turned towards the forest, having a strong feeling that Absol decided to escape through there.

"(I'll bet that you're over at the forest…)" Lucario immediately activated his Aura Vision ability and saw his surrounding's aura.

Scanning the forest, he wanted to look for anything that stands out. Within seconds, he identified Absol's aura and noticed the Disaster Pokémon resurface from the earth and flee into the forest. Since Lucario was still locked onto Absol's aura, he noticed that the colors of Absol's aura were mostly composed of four main colors: green—for a _mostly_ relaxed composure—, dark yellow—for emotional pain—, brown—for a materialistic nature—, and black—for uneasiness in its heart—.

Disregarding the unusual aura colors that Absol emanated, he disengaged his Aura Vision ability, not needing it to follow the Disaster Pokémon. He dashed towards Absol with enough speed to leave behind a blue blur behind his wake, utilizing QUICK ATTACK to run after it through the forest.

However, he wasn't dashing _directly_ towards Absol. He made use of Sceptile's jungle combat training. He was flipping across branches, horizontally zigzagging across the tree trunks, and catapulting himself through the foliage.

Everyone in the audience decided to follow him into the forest.

Everyone proceeded except Sceptile and Tiny.

_(Song Fades to Half Volume)_

"Arceus in High Heaven, why didn't I choose to eat more than just that Nanab Berry?" Sceptile was groaning mildly from hunger.

"Can't you just find and eat some Berries around here?" Tiny made a suggestion.

"And miss this fight of utmost importance? I think not!"

"(You didn't need to shout…)" Tiny thought, and then decided to make another suggestion. "Well, what about those seed-like nodules on your back?" It pointed at the seed-like nodules that it was describing. "Can't you eat those?"

"…" Sceptile didn't say a word. It was immediately stunned senseless at the thought of eating something that was a part of itself, an act of self-cannibalism.

Tiny continued. "Those seeds are great for healing trees in this forest. Can't you just eat a few of them yourself?"

"…" After a few seconds of common sense rejection, Sceptile unwillingly decided to go with Tiny's suggestion. Reluctantly, it pulled off one seed from its back and without wasting any time, it ate it in one whole bite.

"Well?" Tiny wanted to hear Sceptile's opinion.

"(…So _that's_ what I taste like…)" Sceptile, as strange as it may seem, liked its flavor, which can best be compared to the flavor of its favorite fruit: Nanab Berries, probably because its plant-like body became what it ate.

"I'll take that thought as satisfactory," Tiny said before venturing into the forest and running towards the fight.

Sceptile plucked off of its back _another_ one of the six seeds on its back and ate it along the way.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Forest (Core)<span>

_(Song Resumes to Normal Volume)_

Absol continued to run in what appeared to be away from the battle, but inside of its mind, that was not the case. Not by a long shot.

"(That Lucario better be following me. My strategy depends on it.)" It thought. But besides that, it was also thinking about the attack that Lucario used to try to K.O it in one blow. "(That Lucario must be something special to have been able to use SOLARBEAM.)"

Within seconds, Lucario was homing in on Absol and was already within fifty feet to it, all while hardly making a sound for it to track him by—and that's saying something due to Absol's sensitive ears.

Once he was close enough, he leaped with twice the normal power that he was already using to acrobatically move through the forest. He flew like a bullet towards Absol. His fist moved faster than the wind could resist, and emanated pure white light.

With his MACH PUNCH technique, Lucario punched the back of Absol's head.

Absol was immediately thrown off balance from the super-effective blow and it was forced to stop, inches before crashing into a tree. When it turned around, it noticed that Lucario was there, as well as the entire audience seconds later, who were at a safe distance away from the fight.

"_Why are you running from me?_" Lucario inquired. "_I sure as hell hope that you're not a coward. It would ruin what little respect I have for you as it is._"

"Who says I am?" Absol said with a mild smirk before causing its blade-like appendage to glow an almost holy white color before it was used for firing multiple RAZOR WIND attacks.

Just like before, Lucario evaded them all, immediately noticing that they all were a bit misaligned to striking him. "_Did that blow on your head influence your sense of accuracy?_"

"Not even the slightest." Absol noticed that the blades of wind that it formed had struck the targets that it wanted them to strike: the trees. The RAZOR WIND attacks were so precise that the trees were instantly cut in an almost impossibly clean manner. Not only that, but due to the fact that the attack was angled well enough, the trees were all set to fall right on top of Lucario. "However, I believe that the blow that you've inflicted on me…"

The trees were already falling, and Lucario has yet to notice.

"…has influenced _you_." It grinned briefly before looking at the trees that were above the Aura Pokémon.

Lucario didn't understand what Absol meant. The only hint that he considered to _be_ useful was that Absol was looking at something above him. Turning around suddenly, he noticed that _five_ mutilated trees were set to fall directly on top of him. Realizing that there was absolutely no time to escape, he instinctively brought up his arms to try to abate the damage.

_**CRASH!**_

Lucario was immediately and fully buried under the immense pile of mutilated wood. Most of the Pokémon in the audience gasped at the sight, while other Pokémon believed that it was far too slow to react in time.

Sceptile was one of those Pokémon that couldn't believe the sight. "Damn…" it said before plucking off the fourth of its six spherical nodules, eating it nonchalantly.

Tiny seemed to show no signs of despondence or urgency. It remained calm and assured of itself.

The mountain-dwelling Lucario had a similar viewpoint as Tiny.

Absol slowly approached the piled-up firewood in a mildly dubious and cautious manner. "(Hmm… It could _not_ have been that easy to defeat you…)" It thought to itself.

Suddenly, it heard an incredibly faint and unusual sound emanating from under the tree pile-up. The sound could best be compared to the sound of a machine gun. The sound lasted for ten-second bursts before pausing and then resuming once more.

Eventually, it got loud enough to be heard by all, leaving the audience—except for Sceptile and Tiny because they knew what that sound was—discombobulated at what was occurring. Before they all had a chance to question about how that sound was being made, their answers were revealed.

The highest tree of the pile-up burst open at the trunk, releasing a massive upward-aimed barrage of high-speed glowing green seeds.

"(Is that…BULLET SEED?)" Absol stared at the seeds fired upward.

The audience did so as well, and became further astonished.

Once the BULLET SEED attack stopped completely, the source of the attack popped out of the upward hole created from it.

"(It took me every Oran Berry I had in my backpack as well as the seeds stored within my digestive tract to do that.)" Lucario ignored how badly sore his throat was after the use of an attack that forced him to regurgitate seeds within himself and climbed out of the gaping hole that he made. "(When I ran out of seeds, I simply concentrated my aura into little bullets. But the end result was an invaluable asset.)" He stood up and jumped off of the tree pile and brushed off the splinters clinging onto his fur.

"My, my…" Absol said, without smiling. "You _are_ special. No Lucario that I've encountered has _ever_ been able to use an unmistakable Grass-Type move."

"(So true…)" The mountain-dwelling Lucario thought with crossed arms.

"(And there's still more to me than that…)" Lucario thought.

"It'll make killing you all the more satisfying!" Absol charged without warning towards Lucario, with speed similar to his own.

Lucario just stood there, waiting for the proper moment to evade.

As Absol was within fifteen feet away from him, it leaped towards him and immediately had its right forepaw channel sable energy until it formed three black and deadly-sharp claws of ectoplasm-like properties.

"(SHADOW CLAW, huh?)" Lucario thought moments before leaping upward, into the trees that was thirty feet above him.

Absol was forced to use its SHADOW CLAW for brakes rather than weapons. After sliding across the soil for about ten feet in order to slow down, it noticed Lucario was doing something unusual. He was leaping across the trees _around_ it with great skill.

It was an attempt to discombobulate Absol, and it was working.

"Ugh, hold still dammit!" Absol was turning in circles just to keep Lucario in its field of vision, which was obviously a struggle that it was trying to manage. However, the more tediously it was becoming, the more provoked Absol was becoming, because if it allows Lucario to have his way for even one second…

…it'll be in a world of damnation.

Lucario shouted, non-telepathically, a battle cry before jumping to Absol and giving it a downward axe kick to its forehead, easily causing Absol to have its head hit the floor. Blood immediately seeped out of its mouth due to a shattered tooth, all before it was left momentarily stunned and vulnerable.

Lucario immediately followed up by grabbing Absol by its tail. "_Do you remember this, Absol?_" Lucario shouted, not caring if it was conscious to listen or not, before throwing it easily up and over his head—benefiting from the high physical power of being a Fighting-Type—in an arc motion before turning the briefly stunned Disaster Pokémon from a Dark-Type into a Flying-Type.

In other words, Absol was sent flying, towards a tree—of all things in a forest.

"(Damn…)" Sceptile thought while seeing Absol fly like an old ragdoll. "(I'd _hate_ to be in its fur coat.)"

Just as the tree was within ten feet of Absol, it immediately regained its senses and without wasting any time at all, it turned its body in order to land on the trunk on all four paws. As quickly as it recovered, it rebounded from the tree trunk and charged once more towards Lucario. Only this time, it had _both_ forepaws imbued with SHADOW CLAW.

"(Hmm… I wonder if resilience was something that this Absol worked on for thirty months…)" Lucario thought before forming his METAL CLAWs once more.

Once both Pokémon made contact, the end result was happening faster that most Pokémon could see. Claw swings, evasions, blocks, and quick-thinking skills were the only four tactics used at this moment.

Eventually, they both got themselves into an unusual predicament. Both claws of each Pokémon got lodged into each other's, leaving Absol standing on its two hind legs. Now, they were left with a standstill, and each Pokémon, with their teeth gritted and crimson eyes locked tight on each other, attempted to dig their claws into the enemy.

After a few minutes of this stalemate, most of the audience wondered what _exactly_ was going on between them, especially with their stamina.

This battle of endurance continued imperturbably between the Aura Pokémon and the Disaster Pokémon. Minutes went by with both combatants seemingly not losing any stamina, but eventually, one of the two Pokémon was finally beginning to show signs of losing the struggle.

And unfortunately, it wasn't Absol.

Absol grinned eerily as it continued to struggle against the slowly-weakening Lucario. It was feeling small vibrations that it was able to faintly pick up with its SHADOW CLAWs. And those vibrations were coming from the hind legs of Lucario. "Are you losing stamina already?" it said rhetorically.

"…" Lucario was slowly beginning to lose this stalemate. His arms slowly drained of sense of feeling, and they began to tremble alongside his legs.

Most of the Pokémon were beginning to notice Lucario's weakening power.

"Your stamina is draining away, just as I had planned from the beginning!"

"_…My…stamina?_" Lucario said, while his legs were slowly folding inward against his will. "_All of this was about draining my stamina?_"

He continued to grit his teeth and tried his hardest to push forward and against Absol's strength. But alas, his body wasn't cooperating, and his options departed from him with time.

Absol pushed even harder against him due to the fact that it still has enough energy to use at its disposal. This immediately caused Lucario to go down on his left knee.

The throng of Pokémon became somewhat worried about him. They were _all_ in favor for Lucario to win and not Absol.

"(His strategy…)" Lucario thought while having his METAL CLAWs revert back to the paw-spikes that he normally has _against_ his will. With nothing to hold back Absol's SHADOW CLAWs, they suddenly dropped down and dug into Lucario's paws, right between the digits.

Lucario yelped in pain when Absol's claws sliced through his flesh.

"(His strategy…is…working... And I was feeble enough…)" Lucario was completely out of energy and his arms continued to bleed somewhat from the lacerations between the digits.

Absol continued to grin maliciously, stopped using SHADOW CLAW, and then it stepped back about forty feet.

Lucario got down on both knees and has both paws placed on the ground, with his head aimed at the floor. He was hyperventilating due to the loss of stamina and was sweating moderately from being a bit overheated in terms of body temperature. He came close to passing out and vomiting before the forest floor. "(I was… I was feeble enough to be…a part of it.)"

"He he heh… Now I've got you just where I want you to be." Absol was easily taking advantage of this moment. "My strategy worked! And now it's time to kick you while you're down!"

Absol began to breathe in a highly controlled manner, almost as if it were drawing energy to itself.

Lucario weakly tilted its head up to see what Absol was doing.

Within seconds, _sparks_ were forming all around Absol's fur. And then, after three more seconds, the Disaster Pokémon immediately burst into flames, (surprisingly) immune to this self-made conflagration.

Not one Pokémon in the _entire_ audience would have thought that this Absol knew a move that was considered impossible for its kind to learn.

This Absol knew how to use FLARE BLITZ.

"This final move will foreshadow your afterlife," Absol said, clawing at the ground twice with each paw in order to ensure heightened traction. "As your decimator, I will _personally_ give you a one-way ticket to Hell!"

Absol literally _rocketed_ towards the fatigued Aura Pokémon, easily running at five times its normal speed. It was running so close to the foliage that the trees and leaves around it caught fire.

Thankfully, there was a surplus of Water-Type Pokémon amongst the audience. They took care of that fire with ease.

Lucario was forced to look up to see what Absol was doing now due to how feeble he currently was, even at holding up his head. He was able to see a large fireball, with a white and somewhat black core charge at him with blinding speed.

"(*Groan*) _Oh fu—_" Lucario didn't even have a chance to curse, once Absol rammed into him.

Lucario was set ablaze from the fire and easily sent _flying_ via Absol's FLARE BLITZ technique, only to crash onto a tree that was _250 feet away._ Lucario was stuck onto the tree's trunk by his side, the fire abruptly extinguished. Before he fell back down onto the ground, he got hit by Absol _again_ when it came rocketing towards him without any thought of slowing down, let alone stopping. This time however, he got hit perfectly in the gut, Absol being well aware of his chest-spike and expertly missing it.

Lucario's eyes easily widened at such a powerful attack, which singed the fur on his belly. His mouth opened in shock, and a mouthful of blood escaped from there. The wind was easily knocked out of him as well.

And it doesn't stop there.

The blow was so great that the tree gave out behind him and literally _exploded_ into splinters. This caused Lucario to continue to move further, except he was _rolling_ violently on the ground and not flying in the air. Tiny's backpack was somehow intact, a testament to its craftsmanship—or Lucario's luck in not landing on top of it.

"(Oh my Arceus!)" Tiny and Sceptile thought closely to that phrase. They easily feared for Lucario's life now, and were suddenly afraid _for_ his life, noticing how unnatural he was rolling.

The mountain-dwelling Lucario had its eyes wide open and couldn't take its eyes out of watching such a heart-rending sight.

Lucario continued to roll unnaturally, drifting out of consciousness for very brief and almost unnoticeable moments with each blow to the skull. He could faintly feel his bones being struck hard enough to _bend_, but not snap, and he could feel bruises and lacerations forming with each harsh roll. He was also beginning to feel vertigo due to the constant rolling. But as far as he knew, he couldn't find Absol anywhere, and that was all he seemed to care about.

However, unfortunately for him, Absol was continuing to charge at him like an aggressive Tauros. It appeared from the _air,_ having leapt across the trees, setting them ablaze—before they were extinguished by the Water-Type Pokémon.

Absol immediately jumped one more time to catch up to the newly-titled Tumbleweed Pokémon and dive-bombed him, hitting its mark and causing the air around them to suddenly snap.

In other words, this particular impact caused an explosion that sent Lucario flying _upward_, and completely shrouded in flames as well.

Absol wasn't marred at all from that explosion, but it was somewhat injured from the recoil damage. It suffered a significant headache and most of its body ached mildly. It also had a few lacerations to its head and upper body, but that was all inferior compared to what Lucario suffered.

After using FLARE BLITZ enough, Absol stopped by planting its feet to slow down, tilted its head up, and smirked evilly at the sight of Lucario burning alive and flying uncontrollably upward in the air.

Absol measured the angle of Lucario's "flight pattern" and predicted that Lucario was going towards the Forest Cliffside. Instantly thinking that the Aura Pokémon was going to miss the cliff completely and transcend it, Absol ran with glee towards him, hoping to see the sight that it wanted to see occur.

The audience followed nearby, using the trail of smoke that Lucario was forming from the fire that it had engulfing him guide them, as if it was the North Star in the night.

Sceptile and Tiny went on further ahead, due to the fact that they knew Lucario well enough to worry about him. What they didn't know was that the mountain-dwelling Lucario was following somewhat nearby them.

"(These two Pokémon must be friends of that Lucario…)" the mountain-dwelling Lucario thought. "(They'd best prepare for the worst.)"

_(Song Fades and Ends)_

With all of the _other_ Pokémon mentioned, all that is left is the great flying ball of fire that is Lucario. He continued to burn, feeling the overwhelming heat of the flames eating away at his fur like hydrochloric acid.

Luckily, those flames were _only_ devouring his fur first, giving him a short amount of time to think.

"(That Absol must've spent a massive chunk of its training learning how to use FLARE BLITZ…and endurance as well…)" Lucario thought, trying its hardest to retain consciousness for its life. "(These flames are literally _killing_ me!)"

He screamed at the high temperature, spitting out a small fireball in the process.

"(I can feel this conflagration _drain_ my consciousness, and my life away—wait!)"

Lucario felt something click into place in his mind after thinking the word "drain".

"(Drain… Drain…MEGA DRAIN!)"

He knew perfectly well what to do now. His strategy is set, as hopefully, his victory.

"(For the sake of my life, and the future lives of every Riolu on this world, I hope this strategy works!)"

He quickly grabbed the remaining Sitrus and Lum Berries from within his backpack, before it caught on fire, with such speed that it would've appeared as only a blur to the feeble, untrained eye. Immediately, he opened his mouth wide and stuffed _all_ of the Berries in his mouth, chewing like a Carvanha before swallowing them. He discarded the backpack that Tiny made for him _before_ it caught fire, having it gently fall to the trees below and then he quickly emanated a green light similar to that of SOLARBEAM, but with a lighter, gentler shade of it.

Before he knew it, the ground was within seconds of impact. At the last possible moment, he stopped using MEGA DRAIN, flipped in mid-air to his back, and used ENDURE, stiffening his Steel-Type body to absorb the blow.

Once he hit the ground back first, he struck the ground like a meteor. When he landed, the fire surrounding his body immediately died out due to two factors: the harsh shock of the impact and the sand cloud that appeared with the impact. The earth where he landed _cratered._ Lucario didn't even _bounce_ when he landed.

Most of his fur was burnt away, but not enough anywhere to cause noticeable bald spots. He had his teeth gritted like a vice, and then they opened, relaxed. Blood was overflowing and running out of his mouth, due to moderate internal bleeding of his internal organs.

He appeared to be dead or unconscious, but that was only a feigning tactic.

Absol was the first to arrive to the scene, with a dangerously schizophrenic grin. The first observations that it saw caused its grin to turn upside-down. What it was witnessing was an unconscious Lucario lying on the earth in a crater that eerily—and somewhat humorously— resembled the Aura Pokémon in shape.

Slowly stepping closer to the scene, it noticed that Lucario was (allegedly) unconscious, due to the nostalgic swirled-eyed appearance that occurs when Pokémon faint, mouth overflowing with blood, and feeble breathing.

"(I don't understand…)" Absol thought before looking straight up at the sky, eyeing the trial of smoke that Lucario had left due to the fires eating away at his body. "(At that height, it should've exploded into gory chunks upon ground impact, despite its Steel-Type attribute…)"

It then looked back down at Lucario, only this time, with a shocked countenance.

"(Wait a second. Have you _exceeded_ the four moves limit?)"

It stepped back slightly, sat down, and began to recall the moves that Lucario used. Luckily, it had an above average memory, so it was able to recall this within seconds.

"(You've used BONE RUSH, METAL CLAW, FORCE PALM, SOLARBEAM, BULLET SEED…)"

Absol immediately stopped there, knowing that Lucario knows _more_ than four moves. It got up on four feet once more and wide-eyed Lucario with surprise.

"(What kind of Lucario _are_ you?)" It was left far too discombobulated to finish Lucario off at the moment, despite the (allegedly) perfect opportunity to do so.

"(At least this feigning tactic is buying me enough time to recover from the shock of the immense fall…)" Lucario was thinking, as well as eavesdropping on every word within Absol's mind, all while his body slowly drained away his trauma.

Eventually, the three Pokémon that ventured ahead caught up to the two combatants. The mountain-dwelling Lucario however, deliberately stayed back about twenty feet, away from the other two Pokémon's attention.

"Oh shit…" Sceptile mumbled with concern, before trailing off and plucking one more seed-like nodule from its back, only to find out that it didn't have any more sustenance growing behind him.

The only thing it had left on its back was six one-inch-deep holes on its back, with tiny buds beginning to develop.

"(Huh… These seeds grow back a little bit _too_ fast for my standards,)" Sceptile drifted off in its thoughts, its claws poking the six developing buds. "(Queer… To think that I should've gotten used to this new body by now…)"

Tiny and the mountain-dwelling Lucario didn't seem all that freaked out at the (allegedly) shocking scenery. They were reading Lucario's mind and sensing plenty of brain activity from him.

Finally, after 15 seconds, the remainder of the Pokémon arrived, with unanimous feelings that Lucario has fallen in battle.

Absol blinked twice to snap itself out of its trance and immediately realized that it has been given the most _perfect_ opportunity to end Lucario's life with one swift SHADOW CLAW slash to Lucario's jugular. It morphed its countenance back to the schizophrenic grin that it has no control over and walked towards Lucario's right side. Once there, it channeled dark energy once more to its right forepaw, forming SHADOW CLAW for the final time, and then it was beginning to bring up its clawed paw as high up as physically possible.

"Oh _hell_ no!" Sceptile dashed forward in an attempt to stop Absol from attacking, only to end up being subdued by Tiny, when it grabbed Sceptile by the tail with astonishing strength. Sceptile looked back to where Tiny was, only with a foul look on its face. "What do you think you're _doing_?"

Tiny retained its serious countenance and didn't even bother looking at Sceptile when it grabbed Sceptile by the tail to subdue it. It was still looking at Lucario, reading his mind and comprehending his tactics.

"If you don't let go of my tail, Lucario is going to d—" Sceptile's yellow eyes widened when it realized what Tiny's countenance meant. Sceptile then lowered its head to Tiny's level—which is about 2' 8" since Tiny is somewhat larger due to its age and growth. It whispered close to its ear "Hey Tiny, do you think _I'm_ able to learn how to read minds?"

"Ask me later, that's not important right now," Tiny replied in a modest tone.

"Alright then," Sceptile raised its head back to its own level and continued to watch the battle.

"It's almost a shame to end your life without even a _slight_ amount of resistance in the end." Absol talked as if Lucario was listening—and he was, actually—before having its paw fully stretched above itself. "However…"

"(Not yet…)" Lucario thought, then activated its Aura Vision ability so feebly that the dreadlock-like appendages were hardly resonating and vibrating across the air. He was just able to see the aura that surrounded Absol, and _almost_ cringed—blowing its cover—when noticing its malicious grin.

"Your death will and always will be…"

"(Wait for it…)" He continued to eavesdrop discreetly and secretly until the right possible time opened itself up to him.

The audience began to feel nervous at what might occur. It was highly possible that some of them, especially the younger Pokémon, may develop hemophobia—the fear of blood—after seeing what they anticipated would occur.

"(You're such a martial genius, Lucario,)" Tiny smiled proudly.

"…_**DEALT TO YOU BY MY CLAW!**_" Absol brought down its arm so fast that the air around it snapped at the sudden alteration.

The _entire_ throng of Pokémon cringed at what might occur. Most of the younger Pokémon covered their eyes, and only the more valiant ones didn't, such as the group of Riolu.

"(Come on…Come on already.)" Tiny and Sceptile thought closely to that same sentence.

The mountain-dwelling Lucario smirked at what it _knew_ will occur next.

"(And…NOW!)" Lucario waited at the last possible millisecond to react.

Instantly, his mouth snapped shut and he rolled out of the way, just before the SHADOW CLAW attack sliced through the rock-hard ground like a hot knife to butter, where his _neck_ once was.

Before Absol could react—or perhaps _over_react—, Lucario immediately began spinning on the ground with the expertise of a break dancer. And once he acquired sufficient gyrating momentum, he extended one leg out and instantly made contact with Absol's face—or to be more precise, _Absol's left eye_! The kick was so stalwart and devastating that Absol's eye immediately _exploded_ in a biological detonation, just before the rest of the Disaster Pokémon was sent flying towards the edge of the cliff.

However, Absol just managed to use both of its front claws, especially the right forepaw with SHADOW CLAW in effect, to grip onto the earth in order to slow itself to a halt. Fortunately for it, in doing so, it was _just_ able to stop after its hind paws felt nothing but air, the lower half of its body dangling precariously from the cliff.

Having difficulty ignoring the trauma on its left eye—whatever is _left_ of it—, as well as the warm blood pouring down its left cheek, it struggled to claw itself up and back onto the cliff's edge.

Lucario, during that same time, had spun enough to just place one forepaw on the sandy floor, and in doing so, he had managed to configure himself to stand on both feet and smirk at the predicament that Absol was presently in.

The entire crowd of Pokémon remained silent at the drastic turn of events.

Both Sceptile and Tiny, to the hardest of their ability, resisted the urge to cheer.

The mountain-dwelling Lucario became wide-eyed once more. "(The reflexes on that Lucario are outstanding!)" It was easily impressed with Lucario's combat ability, and then it trailed off in thought. "(I wonder if…)"

Absol was immediately made severely shocked when it noticed Lucario standing on two legs and cracking his knuckles in a pugilistic manner.

"H-h-h-how…?" Absol sat down on its rear and was hyperventilating in shock, barely able to keep its left paw stable when it rubbed the blood off of its left empty eye socket, poking it often within his wounded area. "H-h-how w-were you able t-to _survive _the f-fall?"

"_Two reasons:_" Lucario said before spitting out all of the blood in his mouth onto the floor and wiping away the excess from his mouth with one of his paws, not seeming to care or not if any dribbled onto his chin and settled there, even though he could feel its presence there. "_Sceptile was able to teach me how to use multiple Grass-Type attacks and techniques. MEGA DRAIN just so happened to be one of them._"

Absol could've sworn it felt a bolt of lightning strike its mind upon realization. It recalled the four moves that Lucario used, and the mentioning of MEGA DRAIN broke the four-move mold.

Most of the audience ogled the only Sceptile in the audience and cheered faintly to it. Sceptile noticed this and blushed mildly at the attention and praise he received.

"_And second: despite the fact that Steel-type Pokémon should be weak against Fire-Type attacks—such as FLARE BLITZ—I actually developed a mental resistance to it._"

Absol was still rubbing off the blood on its empty eye socket, gritting its teeth in pain as well as getting its paw soaked completely with its own blood. Its wound wasn't sealing as quickly as it would hope, and would indeed prove life-threatening if left untreated.

"_How's that for differentiating myself from normal Lucario._"

Absol hissed at the sting from fur meeting its wound. "But h-how were you able to rejuvenate to n-near perfection!"

"_That's the simplest part of my strategy._"

Lucario immediately back-flipped high into the trees and disappeared into the leaves, and briefly afterwards, he leaped back into the same spot where he originally was. He held in his paw the backpack that he discarded in order to save it from a fiery demise.

"_Thanks to the backpack that Tiny made for me just for this battle, I was able to carry multiple recovery Berries on me, such as Oran, Lum, and Sitrus Berries, for ease of use._" He threw the backpack towards Tiny and it caught it with ease.

Now the audience glared at Tiny, as well as Sceptile, and gave it a round of applause, as well as a few remarks as to how it was able to make a resilient backpack with incredible skill out of grass and straw.

Both Pokémon were feeling mildly honored from the audience's reaction.

"That would explain (*hiss*) how you survived the fall." Absol still was rubbing the blood out of its eye socket, its speech stabilizing.

"_By devouring the remainder of the Berries, as well as using MEGA DRAIN to assimilate the energy from the fires engulfing me…_"

Absol's other eye widened to the point of almost falling out of its socket. The mere saying of using the energy of _fire_ as a healing source was enough to astound it.

"_…I was able to recover enough to survive the fall with only a moderate amount of internal bruising…_" he then stuck out his tongue to Absol, showing that some of it was _bitten_ off, hanging abnormally off to one side and bleeding enough to fill his mouth a couple of times with blood. "_…as well as a partially-detached tongue._" Lucario sucked back his tongue and spat out more blood onto the sandy floor, caring less about the taste of his own blood at this current moment.

"..." Absol retracted its paw from its eye socket and looked at how soaked it was with blood. Continuing to stare at it, Absol muttered "You really _are_ a special Pokémon…" It decided to say that, regardless of its hatred of compliments. "You've learned techniques that are impossible for _any_ Lucario to master."

Lucario retained an emotionless countenance, something that a Lucario is notoriously famous for. Deep down, he was feeling proud of himself for how different he was, but was keeping this feeling of gratitude to himself, knowing that this battle has yet to end.

Both Sceptile and Tiny felt proud as well. They felt as if they played an invaluable role in Lucario's development and growth. They felt as if they were surrogate parents whom adopted a newborn child, and felt proud of him, proud of what a powerhouse he became.

But that feeling of admiration didn't last when Absol continued to speak.

"I… I _hate_ you…for that!"

"(How predictable…)" All three Pokémon thought.

Absol put its paw down and stood up. Its face was beginning to gradually turn spiteful, especially with the bloody left eye socket. "I _hate_ your kind, both Riolu and Lucario."

"…" Lucario eyes stayed stable. He knew Absol hated his species, and wasn't surprised in the least that Absol admits it.

All of the other Pokémon—especially the eight Riolu and mountain-dwelling Lucario in the audience—showed signs of anger, but managed to keep their cool and restrain themselves.

"I _hate_ them, ever since one of your species decided to kill my entire family!" It raised its tone with spite.

All Lucario decided to do was just stand there like a statue, hearing whatever the Disaster Pokémon feels like it has to get off its chest.

All of the audience decided to listen as well, mostly because of the back-story they were getting.

"I was only a year old during that dark day of my life…" It looked down at the earth below, as if it was visualizing its family's corpses buried below the earth that it was standing on, nothing more than rotting flesh and exposed skeletons. Within seconds of silence, a few tears could be seen falling into the earth, half of them bloody from Absol's left eye socket. "My family died because of a dispute over _territory_. I was fortunate to escape from _them_ in order to save my own life."

"…" Lucario started to stare off to the sky and was imagining what might have occurred to Absol's family, keeping it private.

"My family…I can't bring them back." It talked with much pain in its words. "Now I'm ten years old, and ever since then, I've been dedicating my entire life to obliterating any Riolu _and_ Lucario that I can get to, and in the most bloody way possible, as vengeance for their species assassinating my family."

The entire audience, whom were once showing signs of anger, now showed signs of both anger _and_ understanding, for they knew what drove Absol to kill the species that it despised. Some found it easier to do than others, especially since they had no part in this.

But the mountain-dwelling Lucario found that impossible and without warning, it shouted out "_So you're killing my kind just to avenge your family?_"

Absol, as well as everybody else, glared at the sudden source of that outburst. They were seeing a light-furred Lucario clenching its fists and seething with rage.

Absol had to narrow its remaining eye briefly to notice the Lucario. Then it grinned maliciously and said "I could've simply stopped after killing the Riolu and Lucario responsible once I trained hard enough and located them, but I enjoyed doing so to the point that that I developed a bloodlust for your blood…"

The mountain-dwelling Lucario immediately knew what Absol meant by slaughtering innocent lives _beyond_ those that had a connection to it.

"_You son of a—_"

Immediately, Absol launched a RAZOR WIND attack at it to shut it up, albeit it had quick reflexes and narrowly avoided it by crouching down. The blade of air nearly sliced off both of its ears, but luckily for it, it instinctively tucked its ears down before crouching.

"Stay out of this!" It bellowed before turning its head over to Lucario, whom was still staring at the sky, imagining what may have occurred to Absol's family. "Well Lucario, what's your opinion of my loss? Do you have a better understanding of me, and why I chose to kill your kind after what happened to my family?"

"…" He stopped staring at the sky once he heard Absol ask him a question. To think of an answer, he crossed his arms and stared downward at the floor.

After about ten seconds, Absol roared once more. "Well, what's your opinion?"

Lucario felt like he gave enough time to thinking and decided to say his opinion.

"_My opinion is…_" He uncrossed his arms and stared seriously at Absol, but not with his regular sanguine glare. He immediately had his eyes' blood vessels bulge with increased blood flow, as well as the veins around the eye sockets, but that was concealed by his fur. His eyes turned gold and finally, he had all four of his dreadlock-like appendages vibrate and hover perfectly horizontal.

In other words, he activated his Aura Vision ability.

"_My opinion is this: I'm sorry about your family's premature death…_"

Absol was left with the sense that more was going to come. And the evidence to that lies in the fact that Lucario had activated his Aura Vision ability.

"_…but that will mean nothing, once I end you._"

"…That's it…" Absol rematerialized its SHADOW CLAWs on both paws, having bloody paw's claws turn dark red due to blood. "I've allowed you to live long enough!" It said before charging towards Lucario at full speed, showing incredible stamina and endurance, despite having lost significant amounts of blood and drained enough of its strength when using FLARE BLITZ.

Lucario just stared onward at the Disaster Pokémon, noticing how intense the negative bits of its aura were with his Aura Vision, as well as how that same dark aura lingered behind in Absol's wake before disappearing seconds later.

With great tranquility, he cracked his neck to the left and right and remained stationary. "(I'll show you the error of your ways, for recklessly charging at a Lucario with their senses enhanced,)" he thought with arms crossed behind his back.

Once Absol came within striking distance, it began to slash thoughtlessly towards Lucario. However, Lucario kept avoiding all of its claw swipes with ease, not needing his arms at all to defend or parry—as evident of folding them behind his back. Absol growled as it continued to attack away only to slice at air instead of Lucario's flesh.

"_Are you even trying?_" Lucario said before tilting his head left to avoid one paw with ease and then ducking to avoid a head-aimed horizontal swipe that just missed Lucario's ears. "_If you keep attacking without reasoning…_"

Lucario caught Absol's right paw with a sudden grab at its wrist using his left paw.

Absol became more enraged and tried to slash at Lucario with the other paw, only to have it caught by Lucario's right paw, gripped tightly by the wrist.

_ "…Then you'll recklessness will become predictable to your opponent…_"

Lucario then shoved off Absol's left paw and turned around to the point of being behind it, so that Absol couldn't reach with the other paw. Still holding onto Absol's right paw with his left paw, he quickly switched paws before restraining the Disaster Pokémon with a chokehold.

"_…and allow them to deliver a devastating counterattack!_"

Immediately after speaking, he brought Absol's entire right arm behind him in one quick jerk, easily dislocating Absol's right shoulder—and earning an ear-shattering scream of pain in the process. Now with Absol's right arm completely limp, and _still_ retaining the SHADOW CLAW attack, he easily brought it to Absol's blade-like appendage/right ear and mutilated it with one swipe.

"(…My ear!)" Absol saw its ear, as well as some blood, fall to the sandy floor below. But before it had enough time to curse verbally at Lucario, he immediately placed both of his paws on Absol's dislocated arm and began to spin the unfortunate Disaster Pokémon multiple times around himself with ease.

"(…If I can just stretch my neck closer to its paw…)" Absol opened its mouth and fought against the G-forces and motion sickness to try to bite his paw off. But just as it was within inches to delivering a satisfying vindictive bite…

"_Not on your _life_ Absol!_" Lucario read Absol's mind with no effort. And in doing so, he was able to counter-attack before the attack was made by launching Absol straight up in the air.

Everybody in the audience was astounded by the height that Absol caught. Some thought that it was already around fifty feet in the air.

Lucario, holding nothing back, followed suit and jumped into the air after it. It aligned itself in mid-air so that its legs were up front, intending to pop Absol's remaining right eye like its left.

Absol reluctantly turned its SHADOW CLAW technique off and then it grabbed its dislocated right arm with its left sanguine paw. Ignoring the completely hideous feeling of having bones rub against each other, it managed to relocate the shoulder bone with its native socket. However, its right arm was now sore as _hell_ to it.

"(It and its Arceus-damn sixth sense… I can't believe this one is using it on me… No other Lucario I've faced has done so because of how quick I was in killing them…)"

It then gasped at the incoming Aura Pokémon that had one leg protruding out, directly towards its face. Immediately, Absol realized that he was trying to obliterate its other eye.

"(Not again… Not this time…)" Absol thought.

Still flying upward, Lucario was reading Absol's mind with ease, and in doing so, picked up on something odd. "(What are you planning…?)"

Calculating timing precisely, Absol prepared itself to evade when the timing is right. Once that happened—which was when Lucario was within five feet of its eye—Absol used a move that complimented its nature of malice, and was what it often used to assassinate. It immediately created a dozen duplicates of itself, around itself, by vibrating to the point where two of them were visible and existent, and then those two continued until they became four, and so on.

Lucario immediately made contact with the center Absol, only to have it phase right through him before disappearing into thin air.

"_Was that…DOUBLE TEAM?_" Lucario flew for ten more feet in the air before beginning to descend. Intensifying his aura to the point of it being somewhat visible, he reduced his overall weight to only 15%, significantly reducing his drop speed.

He was staring on at how all of the _eleven_ Absol DOUBLE TEAM duplicates were descending normally back down to earth. They all landed with ease, only kicking up a small cloud of dust half of their height. Then, they all looked up and waited for Lucario to land, as if he was a small leaf that had just fallen off of a tree.

"(How complementary… You know a technique that would benefit your desires.)" Lucario thought while eyeing all of the Absol clones as he was continuing to descend. He stopped pondering and gently landed on the floor and disengaged his aura field that lightened his weight.

Immediately, he found himself surrounded by all of the Absol, but as long as he still had his Aura Vision ability, he was feeling moderately secured.

That is, until the Absol clones _quadrupled_ in quantity.

"_…Oh shit…_" Lucario muttered at the sight of _forty-four_ happy-faced Disaster Pokémon.

"End of the line, Lucario!" All forty-four of them spoke in unison.

The entire audience was astounded by the number of clones that were surrounding Lucario.

He looked all around himself, realizing that this was going to be a difficult moment for him to endure, even _with_ the Aura Vision ability, because of the sheer number of duplicates to have to anticipate. "(This is the perfect time for the last move that Sceptile's training has granted me…for the time being.)" He thought.

Bringing both arms up above his head in an X-shape, he channeled green energy to his paw-spikes, and with the speed of lightning, he brought his arms down and his paw-spikes immediately morphed into three-foot-long, green scimitar-shaped blades.

He was now using LEAF BLADE.

Everybody within the crowd was astonished by the surprises that this Lucario possessed.

Once that move had made its presence, the Absol's attack commenced.

**Number of Absol DOUBLE TEAM clones remaining: 44.**

Lucario was immediately alert to this and immediately slashed one incoming clone to nothingness. Following up, he turned around, just before two Absol charged at him, and brought up both blades to block each of their attacks before slashing them to nothingness simultaneously with an X-slash.

**Number of Absol DOUBLE TEAM clones remaining: 41.**

He dropped to the ground to avoid another one and slashed it perfectly in half by the stomach. He quickly spun in place and kicked four incoming Absol when doing so, causing them to disappear. He avoided yet another straightforward charge by leaping about five feet into the air before landing around an empty area. He grabbed an Absol clone by the tail and spun it around himself a few times, eliminating four more Absol clones, before launching it into an Absol throng, eliminating eight more of them, including the launched one.

**Number of Absol DOUBLE TEAM clones remaining: 23.**

"(There's only…23 of them remaining,)" Lucario thought during the momentary ceasefire. He wasn't feeling fatigued at all, because he was only defending and counter-attacking all of the enemy's blows.

He continued to observe all of the duplicates, waiting for a second round of onslaught.

"(Now I know for a fact your reason for making a surplus of DOUBLE TEAM duplicates…)" Lucario saw one Absol come from behind him, thanks to his Aura Vision ability, and immediately pinned it to the earth with one downward penetrating stab to the head.

"(…This is all…)" Lucario slashed two more incoming Absol and sensed one more coming from behind him. He immediately jumped and did a back flip with a slash to slice it at the back before landing.

"(…only an excuse for…)" He ducked another incoming Absol and gave it a low roundhouse kick when it landed to knock it off of its legs before stabbing it through the heart.

"(…more time...)"

**Number of Absol DOUBLE TEAM clones remaining: 18.**

Lucario jab-stabbed another duplicate, roundhouse-slashed three more and then sidestepped to avoid another one before decapitating it.

"Ew…" Tiny was somewhat disgusted at seeing that duplicate's head fall off and land onto the ground before disappearing.

**Number of Absol DOUBLE TEAM clones remaining: 13.**

"(You just want more time…)" Lucario sidestepped once more to avoid a duplicate's charge and then slashed it in half through the midsection. Then, he did an about-face and stabbed another one in the face.

"(…so you can rest after using FLARE BLITZ…)" He saw three jumping at him from all around simultaneously. He jumped up and did a full roundhouse kick to all three of them before landing on another duplicate with LEAF BLADE instead of his legs. "(…and most likely use it again to try to end me.)"

**Number of Absol DOUBLE TEAM clones remaining: 7.**

He had both LEAF BLADEs stuck on the earth below and struggled a bit to dislodge them. However, he took too long in doing so and paid the price. One of the duplicates _finally_ attacked him successfully by jumping onto his back, digging its claws mildly into it, but not deep enough due to his Steel-Type attribute. It also bit him on the right shoulder, immediately tasting blood while doing so.

Lucario yelped in pain before finally dislodging both LEAF BLADEs from the earth. He turned his head to face the attacking duplicate and gave it a nasty glare. He roared before crushing the duplicate by jumping back and falling on top of it. Quickly, he got back up on his feet and slashed aside two more in quick fashion.

…Or perhaps, _too_ quickly.

**Number of Absol DOUBLE TEAM clones remaining: 4.**

He grasped his right shoulder, being careful _not_ to slash at it with LEAF BLADE. The pain was enough to cause his LEAF BLADEs to fade out in green light and revert back to short white paw-spikes. The remaining Absol duplicates didn't waste any time during this opening and all charged at him from all four sides.

Immediately, he let go of his shoulder and leaped high into the air, which almost caused the clones to crash into each other and kill themselves.

Lucario saw the clones wait there patiently for him to come back down. He began to charge up a large orb of swirling blue aura on his left paw—an AURA SPHERE—and aimed it at the remaining clones. He dropped the AURA SPHERE at them and once it landed on one of them, the explosion formed by it was enough to engulf them all and eliminate them.

**Number of Absol DOUBLE TEAM clones remaining: 0.**

Lucario landed back down to earth, on all fours, before standing upright and clutching his right shoulder.

"_Just as I thought…_" He mumbled, defeating all of the DOUBLE TEAM duplicates, seeing no signs of the original.

Still having his Aura Vision ability on, he scanned all around his field of vision to find the real one. "Where'd you go?" He said as he scanned the forest area.

Immediately, his eyes locked on to a concentrated spot of evil aura approximately 1000 feet away. Immediately, he recognized the source of it coming from Absol.

Absol's fur began to spark before spontaneously combusting and conflagrating once more.

"(*Sigh*) (FLARE BLITZ again?)" Lucario thought with a mild sense of discouragement. He didn't want to deal with this move a second time because he almost had himself killed the first time, if it wasn't for Sceptile teaching him how to use MEGA DRAIN.

Lucario released his grip on his right shoulder and formed a battle stance.

"(At least I'll be much more prepared for it.)"

Not to his surprise, Absol charged towards his destination at full speed, apparently overcoming the sore feeling of having its right shoulder pop out of its socket.

Lucario began to glow in the same green color once more, only this time he had the luminosity glowing at _quadruple_ that of last time, which made the light cast out about three feet from all areas of his body. And then he began to charge towards Absol with bullet-like speed.

To the entire throng of Pokémon who were witnessing this, they saw a red and green blur for Pokémon that were about to collide in phenomenal fashion.

Absol continued to push itself harder and harder, doing whatever it could to make itself move faster, even if it meant hurting itself to do so. It was running at about highway speed, quite fast for a quadruped.

Lucario on the other hand, didn't seem to struggle with gaining speed. He was easily exceeding Absol's speed, despite having half the legs to do so with.

Once they were within 250 feet from each other, they both configured their attacks enough so that they were at their strongest. Absol immediately conjured up all of its remaining dark aura, fueled from its spite towards the Riolu and Lucario species, and fused it to his FLARE BLITZ attack, which formed an ominous mixture of black and red fire.

Lucario created another AURA SPHERE on his right palm and made it assimilate _all_ of the excess green aura emanating from his body, making it grow to half his size, and emanate a bright green joie de vivre.

Once within 50 feet of range, they both decided to jump and collide.

"NEGATIVE FLARE BLITZ!" Absol roared before lowering its head.

"_AURA SOLARBEAM!_" Lucario telepathically shouted before he held out his bright green AURA SPHERE to Absol.

Within inevitable contact, the predictable occurred.

An explosion on _herculean_ magnitude immediately engulfed both Pokémon in its light. Everyone around them, viewing their battle, felt a sharp gale engulf them from their impact.

The explosion immediately rejected both Pokémon in a violent manner. They flew horizontally in opposite directions, with only Lucario coated in fire, skidding and cart-wheeling across the sandy and earthy floor.

Lucario skidded on his back for about a second, breaking a few bones in his tail, slowing down slightly before colliding with a tree, killing the flames surrounding him among impact.

Absol nearly fell off of the cliff once more, but stopped short before even its tail came off of the cliff.

Lucario sustained multiple broken bones on its right arm—once again—and tail, severe abrasions—when he skidded on the floor with the fur off on his back—, and mild burns coating most of his body.

Despite being drained of energy, he managed to get up, slowly and feebly. He had to use the tree to help support his balance, but he used his right paw in doing so, and felt multiple broken bones grinding against each other, as well tearing further at his flesh.

"(If I live after this day, I'm officially making myself left-handed,)" He thought, doing his best to ignore the pain on his entire right arm, as well as the frustration of having most of his fur singed off—but not to the point of having a bald spot—once he planted both legs firmly into the earth, as if they were the roots of a plant. Then, he realigned the normal structure of his tail, noticing how it was bent abnormally in three areas, giving it _more_ of a zigzag appearance. The pain of doing so caused him great distress, but he ignored it to the best of his ability. He knew he suffered less than what anyone else would in his position because of his Steel-Type attribute.

Thankfully, Lucario's legs weren't broken, and he used what remained of his power to hobble over to the cliff, where Absol resided.

"(Such a powerful desire to continue…)" the mountain-dwelling Lucario thought in disbelief.

"(Is it even possible to _be_ conscious after that impact and explosion?)" Sceptile thought in great disbelief.

"(I can't believe you're still _standing_!)" Tiny thought with complete disbelief.

Absol easily had more damage sustained than Lucario, due to its slower speed upon impact. Predictably, it has broken bones, but to a much higher level of severity. It had one of its hind paws bending _backwards_, and it had multiple bones protruding from its skin, staining its snow white fur with blood. All of this was added to its obliterated left eye, and mutilated blade-like appendage/right ear.

Eventually, it got back on its feet, but with a few tries in doing so, having to get accustomed to use three paws instead of four to stand up. Once it got itself back on its feet the _fourth_ time, it gave one quick look at Lucario—once he reached the cliff—and was in disbelief. It couldn't believe that Lucario was still alive, let alone _standing up_.

"Why? Why are you still—" It muttered, before flinching to the massive trauma that it had endured, causing it to stare at the floor and allowing the blood in its mouth to drip onto the ground.

"_It's all because of my natural Steel-type attribute…_" Lucario read its mind once more and hobbled closer towards the Disaster Pokémon, its Aura Vision ability no longer active.

Absol slowly began to have its fear grow, it limped a step back with its other hind paw, only to have itself almost slip off the cliff. It also added salt to a wound by having to use its broken hind paw to regain balance, enduring further agony as it collapsed onto the floor once more, having to regain its normal footing for the _fifth_ time.

"…_and a stronger goal to accomplish,_" Lucario stepped even closer to Absol, which made that Pokémon widen its eye in fear.

Absol wanted to step back even further, but it would fall off of the cliff and most likely die if it did so.

"_Your goal is to murder relentlessly at the Pokémon species that have brought you sorrow, while my goal is to kill you, to prevent that from happening any further,_" Lucario was within forty feet of reaching it.

"…Shut up…" It muttered spitefully at Lucario's words.

"_The only difference between our goals is purpose and willpower._"

"…I said…shut up…you Arceus-damn bitch…" It spoke feebly, far too much in pain to shout.

"_You're lacking in _both_ of those factors!_" He was now within twenty feet of it.

"I said…"

"_Shut up? Good idea._" Lucario generated another AURA SPHERE on his left paw as he continued to walk up to Absol.

Absol was now frozen in fear as Lucario was within punching distance of it. Lucario ominously held the AURA SPHERE to its face, allowing it to see the swirling, dense aura within it. He then brought the orb of aura back.

"_You'll never be able to kill me_." He crunched the AURA SPHERE in his paw and had it become a boxing glove. He also forcefully grabbed Absol by the neck with his right paw, not caring anymore about the pain induced by his broken bones in doing so. He only recalled momentarily how similar this final attack was to the day that he and Absol met for the first time.

"…Ah (*gasp*) …and why is that?" Absol was choking now, and eyeing Lucario dead center in its blood-red eyes with its one remaining eye. It had absolutely no more energy left to try to defend.

"_I've already said so,_" Lucario brought his left arm back as high as he could, as if wanting to put all that he currently has left in one final attack. "_I have more of a purpose and the willpower to support it than you'll ever have._"

Knowing this was his final attack that'll decide who's victorious, Lucario brought his fist down upon Absol's face, having a much more directed explosion aimed perfectly at its face and not onto him like before, delivering a stalwart punch that easily _imploded_ Absol's snout and jaw, as well as rendering any form of recognition of this Disaster Pokémon impossible.

Absol only heard the sound of a gale storm in its remaining ear before hearing the sound of rushing air. It felt so much pain on its face, as if a boulder was dropped onto it, but it could care less, because now it knew for a fact that it was falling off of the cliff.

"(…I'm…finished…)" It thought briefly, accepting its fate before falling to the trees below.

Lucario, with the AURA SPHERE spent, stared down at the falling Pokémon. His vision was slowly beginning to distort into blurriness, just as it noticed Absol disappear into the trees below. His sense of hearing faded away as well, preventing him to hear the sound of Absol's impact below.

Now _he_ was beginning to lose his balance as the unfair hand of unconsciousness began to wrap itself around his neck.

"(My species…has been saved…from further anguish…)" His vision was beginning to blend together on its own, slowly merging all available colors into darkness. "(And now…)"

He began to lean towards the cliff's edge against his will; rolling back his eyes and slowly closing them before losing consciousness to the point of not being aware of his current situation.

"_…_I'm_…finished…_" Lucario muttered those last words before finally losing his balance and falling off the edge of the cliff.

Thankfully, Tiny reacted quickly enough to grab him by the tail and prevent the Aura Pokémon from suffering the same fate as Absol did. However, due to a Steel-Type Pokémon's natural physical reaction of having its density increase when they suddenly become unconscious, Tiny was _already_ losing stamina, as well as traction, and beginning to fall off of the cliff as well.

Luckily they were both saved by Sceptile, whom grabbed Lucario's right side, and the mountain-dwelling Lucario, whom grabbed Lucario's left side, combining their strength alongside Tiny's.

"Why does this guy weigh a ton?" Sceptile complained as it struggled just to lift him up and away from a vertical oblivion.

"Ugh…" Tiny was gritting its teeth due to using all of its strength on pulling him back to safe ground. "It's…it's because…"

"_It's because of a Steel-Type Pokémon's defensive mechanism,_" The mountain-dwelling Lucario said, not struggling as much as the other two, but having some difficulty nevertheless.

Tiny looked at the different-colored Aura Pokémon with minor confusion, "Do we know you?"

"_You_ don't, but this Sceptile friend of yours does."

Sceptile remained stable in terms of keeping Lucario from falling off, but was now fairly confused by this other Lucario. Its fur color was giving him severe déjà vu, but he failed in pinpointing this Lucario. "Who are you exactly?"

"_Allow me to quote your words when I volunteered to temporarily follow you:_" It thought of how lizard-like Sceptile's voice was and did its best to emulate it. "_'Alright, you can join me, but only if you do _your_ share of the work.'_"

Upon hearing those words, Sceptile immediately recognized who this Lucario was. "It's great to see you again, Wanderer."

"Wanderer…?" Tiny said upon realization of this Lucario's identity.

"_Likewise…Sceptile,_" It bowed once in a polite manner, only just phased by its evolution.

"So _you're_ Wanderer," Tiny said.

"_Now's _really_ not the time to learn about each other, little Riolu. We have a victor to aid._"

"(Little Riolu?)" Tiny felt mildly offended with being called "Little Riolu", but it knew that this wasn't the time to have a conversation. It was the time to save a friend from falling to an untimely death.

And so, all three Pokémon managed to drag Lucario onto the safe floor on the center of the Forest's Cliffside before suddenly setting him onto the floor…

_**THUD!**_

…with a loud thud!

"Hey, careful!" Tiny shouted.

"It's not my fault it weighs a ton!" Sceptile argued back.

"_Relax, this Lucario isn't further marred by falling on its back so suddenly,_" Wanderer told them. "_I should know… We're of the same species._"

Sceptile faced the crowd of Pokémon, "Hey, by any chance can you go get—?"

It was silenced by the fact that the audience had gathered medical supplies already. They had with them sticks and vines—forest technology for making a cast—and Berries—forest medicine for quick recovery. Also, some of the Pokémon who knew recovery techniques stepped forward, most of them being Grass-Type and Psychic-Type Pokémon.

"_It would appear that they've done so already,_" Wanderer pointed out the obvious.

"Well, come on already!" Tiny called out to everyone. "We've got a victor in need of our assistance!"

They all immediately came over and helped the injured Lucario. They all helped make Berry medicine, casts for bone realignment, and bandages to help stop the bleeding and fortify the burns. The medical-specialist Pokémon used a variety of moves to help rejuvenate him, such as AROMATHERAPHY, HELPING HAND, and even PAIN SPLIT.

It's obvious that Lucario was in good hands.

* * *

><p>"When a genuine threat to survival emerges, one must act with brutal efficiency. The maxim is, 'Act only when necessary, and then act with maximum force and speed." —Orson Scott Card (77) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

* * *

><p>Every song that I post, I'll keep a record of on my profile. You can refer to it if you show interest, or not, or if you have the songalbum in general.

On a different note, this is definetely my longest chapter yet.

On another different note, I've noticed something recurring amongst authors and their writing habits.

For starters, characters who speak telepathically, they often italicize the dialogue, so that the reader understands this without a problem. The same goes for thought, which is often put in parenthesis. Doing that for thought is something that I prefer a lot more than simply discarding quotation marks.

I should thank this website, and its authors, for indirectly aiding me in familiarizing myself with these habits (if you can call them that).

And with that, I bid thee farewell, until the next two chapters are uploaded (which will be mid-October, or earlier).


	5. Prologue (Part III (3))

My god...

My hits with this story _quintupled_ between my last update and this update. Now I'm up to 250.

And it's all thanks to you, the readers.

Although I do ask this from you guys:

1. Please be generous enough to review my work. Only one person has so far (you know who you are), and I would love to hear your opinions on my FanFic, be they positive or negative.

2. Hardly anyone reads my profile. It'd be better if you read it more frequently, especially when my song choice evolves as I write, since I can only post the links there.

Speaking of songs... If you're a fan of Linkin Park's music, then you may enjoy where the last third of this chapter goes.

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue (Part III (3)): The Unique Boy's Unlocked Potential<strong>

Directly after the battle with the three Roman soldiers, Costas, Ian and I were carried off to a lower floor of my laboratory: the Prison Cell Room, a room used to store intruders that find their way into the laboratory.

All three of us were thrown into jail—_literally_—and housed there for the time being. The three Roman soldiers had two reasons for doing so: they had a legion of 1,000 soldiers—which composed of one General and 999 soldiers, three of which are already here—set to invade this particular village and they want us three alive so that they can literally _torture_ the answers out of us on how the S1-GS device—aka GSS (Grand Storage Sphere)—works.

We remained in there for hours, having yet to recover from the liquid anesthetic's effects. We three shared the same prison cell, but we didn't know that because we were still unconscious and on the floor.

During that time, I was having a most unusual dream, a dream so realistic that I actually felt as if I was experiencing it.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Eduardo's Subconscious<span>

This surreal dream of mine, it involved two massive opposing armies that were about to wage war between each other. One of the two armies was the Roman Army, and the other of the two armies consisted of the villagers from my home of birth. The Roman army consisted of 1,000 well-armed soldiers. The village's army scrapped together only 100 people, who were only armed with what their mothers gave them: arms and legs.

All of this was taking place in a wide-open desert. However, the environment wasn't searing hot due to the red and black sky: red on the village's side and black on the Roman's side. This meant that the current temperature was cool—unusual for _temperature_ to be considered in a dream.

Setting aside the fact that in this dream I can actually _feel_ heat, I was perfectly centered between both armies, and it appeared as if neither one knew of my existence. I did multiple about-faces to get some invaluable information about both armies, and then I came to a decisive conclusion.

"(This match-up is incredibly one-sided…)" I thought with some concern over the village's scrapped army. However, my attention was immediately drawn over to a sudden voice that came from the side of the Roman Army.

"_This battle has already been won, without one drop of blood being shed!_" The source of the voice came from somewhere in their army.

"(Where is that voice coming from?)" I scanned Roman Army as best as I could, but to no avail. Everything over there was a bit _too_ dark for me to see.

"_And why am I saying this?_" The source of the voice made itself audible to all around the area.

I had no difficulty listening to the _sound_ of that voice, especially since my sense of hearing is pragmatically superhuman.

And then, out of nowhere, a luminous orb of gold and silver appeared in front of the Roman Army without even a hint of where it came from. The sight of it levitating was what immediately drew my attention to it, and it was then that I realized something terrible about the orb being on their side.

"(That's… That's my S1-GS device!)" I was somewhat bewildered at how they managed to get my device, which made me _truly_ believe that they had succeeded in obtaining my invention—despite the fact that I was in a dream. "(How did they get their hands on my S1-GS device? I sealed it away in a security system, with only Costas, Ian, and I having access to it!)"

"_I'm saying this because I possess the key item that'll devastate you all!_" The enigmatic voice boomed across the atmosphere.

After the voice disappeared from the air, there was silence for about three seconds. But that silence disappeared when the button on the S1-GS device clicked, and then after that, all hell broke loose.

The instant that the S1-GS device opened, an immediate vacuum of gravitational pressure formed in front of the black hole in the device's core. The entire army from the village was violently drawn to the GSS's black hole center, _stretching_ abnormally before being assimilated.

I faced the Roman Army's side and watched in disbelief at how _everybody_ was consumed by the S1-GS device. I was also feeling the powerful gales that it was generating, but managed to firmly stay on the sandy floor below me, despite the fact that I was closer to the device than the villagers were.

Thankfully, this event made me realize that I was still in a dream.

"(Those people won't _survive_ inside of there! There's no program that'll allow them to live!)" I protected my face from the sand—which was also being drawn into the S1-GS device—by using my arms.

Eventually, the S1-GS device assimilated the entire village army and closed itself once its job was complete. I was able to bring my arms down when the sand settled calmly back down, free to drop my guard for protecting my eyes.

Only one army remained, with silence on the other side where the villagers once were.

However…

"_…Wait!_" The unknown voice said. "_…There's one left!_"

"(…One left?)"

Before I could do another about-face, I heard that click sound once more from my S1-GS device. But before I heard another gale of immense gravitational pressure, I heard something else.

_**BANG!**_

That one sound somehow managed to fully _pierce_ the S1-GS device. I noticed that the device now had a hole in the center of it, where the button on it previously existed.

Before I was about to mourn over the damage on my device, I recalled this critical fact that kept my emotions under control, "(This is just a dream. The S1-GS device actually _breaking…?_ Impossible.)"

Immediately after the hole on the S1-GS was formed, it was soon coated in static discharge, and then it fell to the sand floor below, burying itself slightly. A second later, the S1-GS device assimilated _itself_, due to the black hole no longer being regulated—nor _supported_—by the circuitry. With only the black hole remaining, it faded away momentarily, leaving nothing behind of its existence, as well as that of the villagers that it assimilated.

"(Be that as it may seem, who managed to destroy my S1-GS device?)" I pondered before turning around to notice the source of the attack.

What I ended up seeing completely contradicted any form of basic knowledge that I knew.

I saw a bipedal—_anthropomorphic_—canine with long, upward-pointed ears, an hourglass-shaped torso, bulky thighs, blood-red eyes, and a tail that was bent a few vertebrae near the end of it. To top it all off, whatever this individual was, it brandished a sword of some kind, its tip pointed at where the S1-GS once floated. Also, that sword was spouting smoke at the tip of it, as if it fired something.

"(Did that sword just…_fire?_)" I thought with even more confusion. However, I was somewhat more frustrated than discombobulated, due to the fact that the being that I ogled had the appearance of a silhouette, since it was placed between me and the setting sun.

Besides that, I was immediately interested in whoever—or _what_ever—this being was.

In an instant, the weapon it was possessing faded away in a brief glimmer of light. And then, it charged towards the army itself. It was fast though, as I could easily tell from the distance between us.

"(Whatever this being is, it's _fast_.)" I thought.

"_…Eduardo!_" The same voice appeared to call out to me.

"(Did that voice just call me?)" I thought without looking away as the figure came closer, yet still appeared as a sable silhouette before me.

"_...Eduardo…! Wake up!_" I heard the voice once again call to me, and this time, I was feeling a sense of nostalgia after hearing the voice.

Before I thought of a reason as to why the voice told me to wake up, I felt an incredibly violent earthquake begin to form. The earthquake was so powerful that _everything_ around here immediately became distorted and then faded away until the only thing around me was utter blackness, including the floor that I was standing on.

"(_Now_ what's going on?)" I thought with a fair amount of disappointment and anger at the silhouette disappearing in front of me, mostly because I wasn't able to identify it.

"_Come on already! Wake the hell up!_" The neo-nostalgic voice called to me once more.

"Why?" I shouted, getting annoyed at this repetition.

"_**WAKE UP!**_"

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Prison Cell Room)<span>

Date: April 29th, 49 A.D.

Time: 1:06 PM (Afternoon)

For some reason, I found myself waking up when that voice in my dream told me to. I picked myself up and off of the floor and noticed that I was inside my laboratory's Prison Cell Room, imprisoned.

This room had two beds on it that were to the left and right walls—assuming the prison cell's barred door was identified as the front wall—and a clock on the ceiling, nothing more to the cell except for the grim gray paint job that I gave it.

"Finally, you're awake and alright!" Costas said with relief. He was stretched across one of the two beds.

"It took you long enough to get up!" Ian said with both relief and impatience. He was sitting normally on the other bed. "It was almost as though you had a reason to be unconscious."

"(I feel as though I _did_.)" I thought while sweeping off the dust of the floor from my white T-shirt. "By any chance, did any one of you two repeatedly shout 'Wake up!' in order to awaken _me?_" I said while walking over to the locked bars and looking left and right, only to notice that no Romans were around in the hallway.

"It was mostly me," Costas said, admitting his actions.

"I see…"

I continued to scan the area, noticing that there _still_ weren't any Roman soldiers nearby. I was doing this to make sure that when I discuss an important topic to my two brothers, _they_ weren't around to eavesdrop and question me.

"Eduardo, why do you think they imprisoned us?" Ian inquired me, wondering if I have an answer.

"I believe they're awaiting reinforcements," I said before walking towards one of the adjacent walls and leaning back on it, crossing my arms _behind_ my back before doing so, with each hand clamped onto the area on my arm above the elbow.

"What makes you think that?"

"Roman soldiers rarely come in such scarcity, _especially_ during a war, because they're strength resides in their numbers." I said my answer, which was a war-related topic that my parents used to tell me from their experience.

I decided to change the topic.

"You both lost against the Roman soldiers, right?" I said solemnly.

Both of them nodded, with melancholy countenances.

"Don't feel ashamed about yourselves. It's my fault that we all lost. I left the Medical Equipment Room open." I admitted with a mildly guilty tone. "Apparently, they were smart enough to figure out how to use my liquid anesthetic and managed to spread it on their weaponry."

"So _that's_ why we fell to floor soon after having suffered one blood-shedding blow." Costas lunged up upon realization.

"Like I said, I'm sorry about that." I continued. "Thankfully, I left the S1-GS device fortified and away from them. They're most likely wasting their time trying to get their squalid Roman hands on it, only to gain burns on the back of their hands by my security system." I grinned at the thought of imagining them jumping up and down like retarded rabbits while waving their burnt hands like handheld fans.

I looked at the bed and casually said "Well, while we're here…" before uncrossing my arms and going towards the bed, the one that Ian sat on, and sat on top of it. "Do you want to hear something odd? It involves the dream I had when I was unconscious."

"If it's another mentally-omnipresent dream about future technology, I'll willingly pass," Ian said his mind, seeming to have had enough of those dreams of mine being told to him.

"It isn't," I assured him. "It was something else…something abnormal."

Ian's eyes widened when he heard me say this. He and Costas _both_ knew that my dreams were _always_ about future technology, which I received my ideas from when manufacturing my inventions. For it to be something unrelated to that repetitive topic was virtually impossible.

"Well then, please continue." He said with unusual enthusiasm.

"I'd be happy to," I said. "In my dream, I saw the Roman Army and this village's self-detrimental army. The village's army consisted of approximately 100 people. They were badly outnumbered ten-to-one by the Roman army, and far more outmatched. The evening sky was rent into two halves, each in two primary colors: the Roman's side was sable and the villager's side was sanguine."

"(This is certainly different than what he usually dreams about…)" Costas thought.

"The whole location was in the middle of the desert," I continued. "And for some reason, I was capable of _sensation_ in the dream, especially with the heat and grainy feel of the desert sand."

"Wait. What you're trying to say is that you were able to utilize all _five_ senses there?" Ian said.

"Yes," I said just one word.

"(Incredible…)" Ian thought.

"(I barely manage to use my ears and eyes in my dreams…)" Costas thought.

"Anyway, in my dream, the Roman Army somehow got their hands on my GSS device, and then they used it to assimilate the opposing village army without so much as an attempted counterattack. However, the GSS was suddenly _penetrated_ soon after, by an unknown life form, brandishing a sword of some kind. It was shrouded in a black silhouette caused by the red sunset, so I couldn't see what _exactly_ it was."

"An unknown life form…?" Both of my brothers said.

"But before I was able to see what it _truly_ was, one of you two woke me up."

"Did you at least get a good enough view of whatever that creature was?" Ian inquired.

"I was only able to see its silhouette, so I believe I know enough of what its body shape looks like," I said before getting up from the bed and then crouching down onto the floor, noticing the thick layers of dust below.

"What are you going to do?" Costas looked down and said.

"I'm drawing what I saw with what I have around me," I said before coating my fingers with the thick dust, intending to use it as paint.

I began to draw out with significant skill what I saw in my dream. With ease, I was able to form every single detail, such as the hourglass-shaped torso and bulky thighs. Once I added its sword as the finishing touch, I realized there was a one more key feature to this life form that I dreamt of in my mind.

I remembered the sanguine eyes of the being. To add that, I tore off the scab that I remembered I had on my Adam's apple quickly enough to allow fresh blood to flow outward. I used the blood that I was excreting from my wound to paint the sanguine eyes onto the life form, before my wound would eventually coagulate again and heal.

"You're a real oddball, do you know that?" Ian said.

"I've known that since the day that I was born," I replied back, wiping off the excess blood onto my side. "When I was born, the first sound that I made wasn't a cry. It was a cough. When I had sustenance for the first time, I drank water and ate bread in bite-size portions."

"(How's _that_ possible?)" Ian thought.

"So, _this_ is what you saw in your dream?" Costas saw the representation that I made on the prison floor.

"I'm sure of it," I looked at the drawing.

Ian got off of the bed and crouched down to get a better look at the drawing. "It's almost antagonistic-looking." He said while looking at the blood-red eyes. "And I'm not being prejudice because red is a war color."

"I don't think it is," I gave my honest opinion about this enigmatic being. "After all, it _was_ on the villager's side, _opposing_ the Roman Army."

"You _may_ have a point…"

"He _always_ has a point!" Costas interrupted suddenly.

"Not always…" I argued, causing both brothers to give me odd stares. "One example would be the multiple _failed_ attempts at artificially forming a black hole. I didn't have any dreams explain to me how to do so, no matter how hard I focused on the topic prior to sleeping."

"Oh…" Both of them said in tandem.

Suddenly, I heard the rusted entrance door of the Prison Cell Room open up. It wasn't hard to hear it for a few reasons: it was loud, it gave an echo that rattled all across the room, and the door was approximately 100 feet away.

"Oh crap!" Ian whispered rashly. "There back!"

"Hurry, cover the drawing!" I whispered rashly to them as well. "They shouldn't know about it!"

After I said what I wanted to, all three of us immediately shuffled our hands across the floor to gather dust—a surplus of dust—and move it onto the picture. This method was working, and the picture was gradually covered over by the layer of applied dust.

Slowly but surely, I heard the Roman soldiers step closer as we continued to do what we were doing. We were halfway done when I decided to count the footsteps of them. To my surprise, I wasn't able to pinpoint one _individual_ footstep.

I knew that meant one thing: reinforcements have arrived.

I had my eyes widened when I had this thought come to my mind. However, I didn't say a word or slow down when thinking so. What I was worried more about was how close the enemy was to us. And that was causing me to feel stressed.

We managed to cover up about 90% of the picture, leaving one of the eyes faintly revealed and dust of it scattered randomly across. To the people who stare at this floor, they'll notice only a few black and red patches, and nothing more that would be considered abnormal. The picture was still preserved, just concealed with more dust.

With great haste, we sat back on the beds and pretended to be bored—a simple task actually, considering how there's next to nothing to do inside a prison cell.

"(They'll be asking questions about that drawing if they notice it,)" I thought. "(And they all know too much as it is…)"

Eventually, the Roman soldiers arrived, and there _were_ more of them now. There are fifty of them to be exact.

And the Roman soldier on the front was none other than the one that "defeated" me in battle.

"So how are you three enjoying your stay in that boy's—?"

"Eduardo," I said with dropped eyebrows and without looking at him. "My name's Eduardo."

"…" He was a little pissed off when I interrupted him in mid-conversation. He gave me a nasty scowl, which I didn't pay attention to at all.

"No one's stopping you from continuing," I still didn't make eye contact to him. "Just proceed already."

This soldier tightened his fists, a sure sign that he was mad. However, he _did_ have sufficient self-control to calm down enough to the point of speaking nonchalant English.

"So… How are you three enjoying your stay in…_Eduardo's_ jail cell?" He hissed severely when saying my name.

"(This guy's temper is as short as the dagger he's armed with,)" I thought.

All three of us answered back with brief grunts.

"I'll take it you came here because you failed to get my invention out of its perch, right?" I _still_ didn't look at him in the eyes when I spoke, because I hate _everything_ about him: his background, his occupation, and especially his "victory".

"What makes you say that?" One of the soldiers said.

Still not _looking_ at him directly, I lifted my left hand to them, the back of it facing them. I pointed at the center of the back of my hand with my right hand. "Your temporary _leader_ has burn marks on the back of his hands," I smirked before giving him the _middle_ finger with my left hand.

"…!" He clenched his hands so hard that the burnt flesh on the back of his hand rent slightly. Also, multiple veins popped out around his hands and forehead.

Costas and Ian were amazed at the sight of seeing the alleged leader of that Roman army turn Spelon Berry red with anger.

I on the other hand, had my seriousness broken and now I—as well as my brothers—resisted the urge to laugh at how red he was becoming.

"That's it! Out! Out! _Out!_" His voice exploded with rage.

Immediately, the lock on the metal door was unlocked, and the soldiers came in to take us out. Predictably, I was taken out of the cell first, and by the alleged leader. Then, the other two were taken out as well. All three of us tried to fight our way out, but failed to do so against so many of them. There was so much walking going on that the dust from the picture that I made was coming off to the point of 70% of it being exposed, but luckily for my time, none of the Romans paid attention to the floor at all.

They didn't even notice the most distinct feature of the rendering: the blood-red eyes.

The last things to occur in the Prison Cell Room was the cell door to close loudly, the Room's door to close harshly, and the echo of our laughter to fade out until silence was the only thing left to hear.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Village (Outside Boundary)<span>

Time: 1:13 PM (Afternoon)

The group of soldiers dragged us out of the laboratory of mine, and then out of the house. The first thing to get to me was the heat of the outside air. And because most, if not _all_, of my time is spent in my laboratory, I've grown accustomed to the cool temperatures of the air conditioning. So because of that, my sweat glands are often underused.

But when they become used, triggered by intense heat, they often lead to an uncomfortable rash-like sensation of my skin.

"Ha ha ha…heh heh… (Oh shit…)" My laughter quickly died out once I felt the heat curse me with an irritating itch. I felt it slowly spread across my body as if it were the plague.

I had to struggle just to free my hand from the Roman soldier's grip, and when I did; my hand became a blur as I scratched all of the targeted areas. However, this only provided _temporary_ relief, because the Roman soldiers quickly grabbed my hand and my itch continued. So throughout the travel, I was doing my best to resist the _incredibly_ irritating feeling on my skin.

All of the villagers noticed us as we continued to walk. They did know enough about us three to learn that if the Roman soldiers are here, their goals can't be good. They decided to stay away from the situation and allowed the soldiers to walk towards the outside boundary of the village, unaware of their actions and unwilling to involve themselves.

After walking for two minutes in triple-digit heat, all of us eventually noticed an area between both the village and the rest of the desert. In that area, there were even _more_ Roman soldiers, about 100 more to be exact, all eyeing us vindictively. There were also multiple items scattered amongst them, such as whips, wood, rope, and even chains with metal cuffs.

I ignored my itch long enough to notice what was ahead of us. Immediately, "Torture" was the thought that came to me when I saw all of these items at their disposal. I knew now that they were using whatever means necessary in order to try to get the answers relating to my S1-GS device out of me.

No matter what they would do to me, I decided to not say a word, even if it kills me.

However, part of me wondered if my brothers were capable of keeping a secret to their graves.

"What are you trying to do with us _this_ time?" Ian said.

"If verbal commands won't get us what we want…" The alleged leader said with a smirk. "…Then we'll willfully use _another_ tactic."

"Leave and never return?" Costas joked before cracking up into laughter. But immediately, he was silenced by a punch to the gut, which caused him to gasp for air.

Ian and I wrinkled our faces at seeing him in pain.

"(After sufficient head trauma, you've developed a comedic, yet child-like personality,)" I thought while feeling pity for Costas's silencing injury.

"When we get that magic orb of yours, _then_ we'll leave. (But not before reducing this _entire_ village and its inhabitants to the sand that it resides over…)," He thought sadistically.

"(I knew it…)" Ian and I thought.

Costas was too busy groaning in pain and catching his breath to think at the moment.

Once all of us were at this location of torture, the soldiers already there wasted no time in constructing the first set of torture. They placed two six-foot-long tree trunks onto the ground. They had a Y-shape on them and they were side-by-side with only a five-foot-wide space between them. Then, they put another tree trunk onto the area between the two Y's of the other two tree trunks, making the whole structure look like an upside-down U, except it lacked the curve and was more square-like in terms of shape. Finally, they threw chains to the top trunk and ensured that the metal cuffs and the ends of the chains dangled below. This was done two more times, so that all _three_ of us would suffer simultaneously instead of just one.

"Tie these three up!" the pseudo-leader ordered. "We're going to _whip_ the answers out of them!"

We three victims were immediately and forcefully thrown and dropped towards the three torture sites, with each of us reluctantly claiming one of them. Before we could get up, two soldiers for each of us grabbed us quickly by the sides and hoisted us up until we were on our knees. Next, they grabbed the metal cuffs and locked them, with our wrists between them.

With us restrained, those two soldiers "assigned" to us walked back and grabbed the ends of the chain and tugged on them hard. We were forced to have our entire arms raised up high, kneeling on the scorching sand. With us restrained by those two soldiers, three more soldiers—one for each of us—grabbed a leather whip, and then three _more_ soldiers took a dagger and used them to rend off all of our upper body clothing, and then they gave it to the alleged leader. Luckily, we didn't sustain a laceration from the dagger, despite the carelessness of their use of a dagger.

"(I have a feeling that this torture will go on for a long time…)" I thought despondently.

"(Why am I suddenly involved in Eduardo's business?)" Ian inquired within his thoughts.

"(Ugh… My spleen…)" Costas groaned from the bruise on his gut.

Without warning, the torture involving the whips began. The whips quickly began to snap and scratch away at our backs, and all three of us were cumulatively cut and hemorrhaging. I was gritting my teeth, resisting the urge to scream from the sharp pain.

Both of my brothers did closely the same as I did. As long as they held out just as well as I did, our lips are sealed and our secrets are held permanently in our minds.

That is, unless we die of severe hemorrhaging.

"(Must…resist…giving in!)" I thought, clenching my teeth from the pain.

"We'll get the answers out of them soon enough." He grinned when saying that. Then, he glared the clothing he was holding in his hand and drifted off in thought. "(This clothing is unlike any other that I've ever seen…)"

As minutes passed, our wounds on our back continued to grow.

Within two minutes of harsh torture, Costas passed out, and then Ian passed out a minute later. Their "assigned" soldiers realized this and stopped whipping them, knowing that they won't give them the answers that they want when they're unconscious. Whipping a dead horse would yield the same result of nothing, something that they knew quite well.

So instead, they decided to whip _me_. This meant that three soldiers were now ganging up on me, whipping me every second.

"(This…is…highly…unfair!)" I could sense my thoughts slowly drift away from me as more of my blood was being lost, as well as my back skin. I then looked at both of my brothers and noticed that they were unconscious and bleeding significantly. "(At least…their lips…are sealed…)"

Costas lost about 15% of back skin while Ian lost 23% of back skin. As three more minutes went by—six minutes total—, I lost more than they did, _combined_. 45% of the skin on my back was lost, and it was gradually growing.

As the soldiers continued with their torture, they were beginning to question whether this would actually work, especially when they noticed how wet the whips sounded from being soused from my blood. They noticed the blood-soaked sand, as well as the open wounds covering approximately _half_ of my back. They began to question their methods—as well as my willpower.

I was _still_ conscious and alert, but I was also in an incredible amount of pain. I was panting heavily from both the heat and the damage sustained, sweating excessively at the stress inflicted onto my being. I've already lost enough blood to not only have my thoughts slow down significantly, but have most of the soldiers here see more blood come from one person than from anyone else they've killed.

A total of ten minutes went by and the soldiers whipping me actually wore themselves out, leaving me with _80%_ of my back skin lost from the whips. Those three soldiers were immediately replaced by three more soldiers on standby.

During that time, I felt great relief and got a feel over the injuries that I've sustained. I felt as if my back was burning—not _just_ because of the heat—and the rest of my body felt somewhat cooled—a lack of blood being the issue. My arms were twitching and slowly seizing up from the loss of blood and from being in the same position for a significantly long time.

I've lost enough blood to consider the thought that I may actually _die_ here where I kneel. However, I knew how to get out of this.

"Is…that all…that…the Roman _Army_…can muster?" I said while feigning disappointment and breathing more heavily, a need for more oxygen with the blood that I still have remaining.

"(The resilience of this kid is supernatural…)" the alleged leader thought with great surprise. "(How can he still be _conscious_?)"

The next set of words that I said became the turning point for their torture tactics:

"I…I've already lost…enough blood as…it is…and I…could _die_…if you don't…stop." I smirked while saying this, not from the fact of dying due to blood loss, but from what I'm going to say next. "_I'm_…the only one…who knows…how to get…the 'magic orb'…" I did the air quotes body language with two fingers from each of my hands, barely able to move them because they were numb from a shortage of blood circulation. "…out of the…security system."

Most of the soldiers, as well as the alleged leader gasped upon realization of this objective-changing fact. I could tell from their reactions alone that I had them where I wanted them.

"Do you all _really_…want me dead _yet…?_ Imagine what…your _true_ leader…would think…of you…Roman _dumb-shits_…if you lost—if you…_killed_—…your only chance…of completing…your objective?" I had my eyes locked on to the alleged leader, giving him a smirk.

The alleged leader was speechless, but still pondering logically. "(The sagacity of this kid is unbelievable… So young, yet so mentally stalwart…)"

Knowing that this mission's objective must be fulfilled, he gave one order in a defeated tone.

"Let them all go… We're done with the torture…"

The soldiers responsible obeyed and untied the metal cuffs on us all. Costas and Ian fell predictably onto the sanguine sand below, but the only thing of mine that fell onto the floor were my arms, starved of blood and gradually recovering. My head and eyes were now aimed at the blood-stained floor below, but only because I was looking at all of the blood that I've lost. "(I…can't believe…I've lost…this much blood… And yet…I'm still _breathing_…but…with altered…thoughts…)" I feebly thought.

To the entire present army's surprise, I got up, by only using my legs as if they were springs—because my arms were significantly sore and mostly seized in place. However, when I got up, I had something different about me, and it wasn't the new wound covering almost all of my back.

"(With that much blood lost and ruining the sand below, I'm surprised he's still standing!)" The alleged leader was mentally astounded by both my willpower and resilience. "(He should be at a massive loss of balance by now! He should've fallen—Wait! What's that on his left eye?)" He noticed something unusual about my left eye, and everyone eventually caught on.

Despite the ash black eye color that my eyes possessed, my left eye now had something that made it stand out from the right eye. Besides the fatigue lines under my eyes—which I earned from multiple sleepless nights that I required to manufacture my S1-GS device—, my left eye grew a blue vein "ring" that was connected to my eye via multiple connecting veins between my left eye and the blue vein ring. Also, more veins formed across my jawbone before moving down the left side of my neck.

Stranger still, it disappeared after a few seconds, leaving no trace whatsoever.

"(What…the…hell?)" He formed a disgusted face, which got me thinking why he was like that.

"What's the…matter? Do I have…something…on my face?" I said while slowly feeling my countenance, once the feeling of my arms returned, clueless as to what has him interested.

"(…He has no clue?)" He continued to think and then he lied by saying "No, nothing at all."

He distracted himself by thinking about the horrendous new wound on my back. "Ugh! Here!" He threw me the shirts of ours and I caught them willingly. "Tie your back with this. You're bleeding in surplus."

I didn't have a pissed off expression because I was still thinking about why the alleged leader was giving me such a disgusted look. I said nothing as I tied up all of the torn shirts on my back to help heal it. One shirt was placed as a pad, directly on top of my wound—quickly so the stinging pain would end sooner—, and the other two shirts were tied on to keep it in place.

"Don't think for a second that we're done here!" He suddenly boomed. "You and you're two friends drooling on the sand are going back into you're cells until the remaining soldiers, and our leading General arrives!"

"(So many…Roman soldiers…arriving to one…miniscule and…halcyon village… They're _clearly_…not finished and…going all-out…on fulfilling their…main objective…)" I thought while resisting the sharp sting of clothing on my fresh wounds. "How much time…until they come?" I wanted an answer.

He grinned ominously close to the border of schizophrenia. "Three days."

I gasped afterward, but not necessarily at the time it would take for the remaining armada to arrive. I gasped at feeling something blunt strike me at the area on the back of my head where the neck connects with the skull. That blunt attack came from a soldier striking me with the butt of a short sword. Within moments, my vision blurred and all of the colors that I was seeing slowly fused into blotches that also fused together until the point of black was the only color visible. But before that happened, I thought these four words:

"(I…_hate_…you…people…)" I spitefully thought my last words before falling unconscious, but not onto the floor.

Another blow had to be made on my head to knock me over and onto my stomach.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Prison Cell Room)<span>

Time: 7:46 PM (Night)

I woke up several hours later and found myself on a gray, squalid floor, one that I've neglected to sweep and polish for years. I slowly got back up on my feet, not wanting to push myself after the new wound that I received on my back. I wiped off the dust that clung onto my face and realized that I was back in my prison cell room, again.

After seeing what time it was on the ceiling, I noticed Costas and Ian were inside as well, but with brand new shirts on top of themselves—the Roman soldiers must've done this, likely so that they didn't have to see the wounds that they inflicted onto us. The shirts weren't soused with blood because they were bandaged similarly to how I bandaged myself.

Also, the drawing that I made of the enigmatic being was still there, only with less dust sheathing it from view. I corrected this in seconds, leaving less than 10% of noticeable traces.

After fixing that one problem, another problem aroused into my mind: How am I going to wake up my unconscious brothers?

"(Their injuries are unanimously _less_ severe than my own…)" I examined their back with the expertise of a doctor before feeling the wounds on my back for comparison, getting a nasty sting of pain when I did so. "(Lucky…)," I thought, realizing that I've rejuvenated sufficiently.

Now, what practically most people do to wake people up is to shake them repeatedly until they do. However, being the oddball that I am, I chose to awaken them with a different manner.

A more…_sudden_ manner…

I slapped them on their backs, making sure that I targeted their wounds, and then quickly rubbed off their blood on my shirt bandages before plugging my ears, due to my hyper-sensitive hearing, to brace myself for the aural trauma.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Village (A Bird's Eye View)<span>

They both shook the entire village with their (hyperbolic) earth-trembling screams, leaving the villagers discombobulated by the sudden shout of pain, but they all decided to just disregard it, for their safety.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Prison Cell Room)<span>

Time: 7:49 PM (Night)

"(I made such a wise choice plugging my ears…)" I thought when the screams subsided.

Costas and Ian began to hyperventilate after shouting to the point of their vocal chords failing them. And when doing so, they got back up on their own two feet.

_**BASH! BASH!**_

"Shut the hell up in there!" One soldier, whom was assigned the role of being the prison warden, shouted after bashing the metal entrance door as if it was a punching bag.

"What the _hell_ was that for?" Costas and Ian screamed simultaneously in spite.

Once I swore no loud sounds were present in the atmosphere around me, I reluctantly unplugged my ears and spoke out. "What do you think it was for?"

"Was it a congratulatory pat on the back?" Costas said in an imbecilic manner.

Ian gave him the half-open eye look, but I just stared at the ceiling and trailed off.

"Well…" I remembered the fact that he, as well as Ian, didn't say a word at all during the torture and were loyal to my problems, even though they had every opportunity to talk to spare further injury on their bodies. "Actually…yes… It _was_ one of those. You both didn't relinquish to the enemy."

"Your welcome," Costas let go of the pain.

"Can you have at least done so _without_ pouring salt on our wounds?" Ian was still a little bit pissed off, but that wore off when he noticed the "bandages" I had on my back. "Is that the torn remains of all of our shirts?"

"Yes…" I said in a low, weak tone.

"Why are they worn like bandages and stained sanguine red?" Costas curiously looked at my back briefly.

Ian looked back as well and thought "(Holy crap!)" with a sickened face when he noticed the _entire_ back "bandage" was stained a sanguine red.

I felt as if I should say the filler information and tell them what occurred after they passed out. "Due to the fact that you both fell unconscious, you both spared yourself further injury to your backs." I gave them both a warm smile, because I cared a lot for their safe being. But that facial countenance turned negative and became a cold serious frown. "However, because of that, the Roman soldiers 'assigned' to you…" I did the air quote body language action before continuing. "…they ganged up on me."

"Can we see the results?" Ian inquired, giving him a raised-eyebrow look from Costas.

"…" I didn't expect them to ask me a question of that category so suddenly. "Uh…sure… (I guess)…" I turned around until my back was facing them and untied the "bandages" before _peeling_ them off of my back.

What Costas and Ian both saw was a series of lacerations on my back so wide that, to them, it covered practically _all_ of my backside, when in reality it was covering _80%_ of my back, leaving the 20% of surviving skin on my back scattered in-between my wounds. The sight of bright sanguine flesh was more than enough to get a negative reaction from them.

Unfortunately for me, that kind of negative reaction involved expulsion from the stomach. And since they were facing my back…

* * *

><p><span>Location: Village (A Bird's Eye View)<span>

I (hyperbolically) shouted _my_ vocal chords to borderline failing when I felt the small amount of hydrochloric acid—and some of this morning's breakfast—come into contact with my scabbing wounds.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Prison Cell Room)<span>

Time: 7:52 PM (Night)

"I _said_ shut the fu—oh whatever!" The Roman sentient outside could care less about us.

I resisted the pain so much that I eventually decided to pick up the bed sheets and reluctantly rub the contaminants off, ignoring more pain and the repulsive scent of digested eggs, bacon, Poffin, and Watmel and Lum Berry juice that lingered on the bed sheets before discarding them below the bed. Finally, I replaced the shirt bandages and thought vindictively of karma.

"(Karma just loves to make people its bitch, doesn't it…)" I thought soberly.

"Ugh… Sorry about that…" Ian said, wiping off the excess _residue_ from his mouth and trying to forget the disgusting image he recently saw.

"(I will be forever traumatized after seeing that wound…and I'm _already_ traumatized head-wise as it is!)" Costas melodramatically thought, temporarily mentally scarred from the wound.

"No no… _I'm_ sorry." I turned around and faced them again normally. "I'll admit, I thought _something_ like this was going to happen if I showed you that."

"When you get punished for negative actions, what was it called again?" Costas began to calm down enough to speak normally. "Was it karma?"

"Uh-huh." I moaned mildly from the new-found pain on my back.

Ian walked to the metal prison cell door and tried to open it forcefully, but in vain. He turned around to face us both and he had a concerned look on his face. "How long are we going to stay in here anyway?"

I went and lied down on the bed with my back aimed at the ceiling, allowing my wound to heal without being smothered. "Three days," I said concisely. "We're staying here for three days so that the remainder of soldiers can arrive."

"Well, what are we going to eat?" Costas questioned worriedly.

"If we're unlucky, nothing…" I said, before pondering about the Roman's intentions. "(They'll never get the answers they want out of me… I'm not afraid to die…)"

"…" Costas and Ian eventually set themselves on the second bed and had almost emotionless countenances on them. They knew there was nothing that all three of us could do but wait.

Wait three long days.

* * *

><p><em>Three days later…<em>

Date: May 2, 49 A.D.

Time: 12:44 PM

In terms of how well we coped with three days of incredible boredom, we didn't do as well as we wanted. Costas and Ian came to the point of painting the walls with their own blood—the blood from their _wounds_—just to pass the time. I was just on my stomach for those three tedious days, pondering somewhat about future technological devices that I planned on manufacturing.

During that time, I caught up on the much-needed sleep that I needed, causing the fatigue lines under my eyes to fade moderately, and allowing my wounds to heal. The large scabs that formed were never kept in one piece however, due to the fact that I moved every once in a while. Thankfully, I never picked at them, because I'd probably get squeamish reactions from my brothers if I pulled off a scab that was as large as a potato chip.

As for the basic human necessities, we did have that. The Romans—as I've learned recently—are actually a hygienic class of people, and didn't want us relieving ourselves on the corner, as if we were caged animals. We also were given food and water, only enough to keep us from complaining about hunger.

When we were taken out of our prison for our natural needs, we passed by the room where I left the S1-GS device, and I smiled every time I passed by because they weren't successful in getting their hands on it. Also, all three of us were able to get bandages for our wounds and I was able to get a new white T-shirt as well, to prevent infection.

The three days allowed enough time for the remainder of the 1,000 soldiers of the Roman Army—which included the General of this legion—to arrive at this halcyon village.

The General of that army was directed to the prison where the three of us were located. Once we noticed his presence, we immediately noticed that—just by the red crest on the top of his helmet—that he was the _true_ leader of this Roman Army.

The Roman General gave us each a quick glimpse—without even caring that some of the walls were coated with blood—before speaking. "I'm the Roman General of this impressive army and I would _love_ to have one of my questions answered: Which one of you three _specifically_ is Eduardo? I came all the way from Rome to this remote little village and may I say that getting here was _hell!_" He spoke with such force and _quantity_ in his words.

I reluctantly raised my hand and decided to get this over with. "(Ugh… not this shit again…!)" I thought with a foul look on my face.

When the Roman General got a better look at me, he was feeling rather dubious. He didn't believe what he was seeing. "You are the inventor of that device?" he came fairly close to believing that I was lying. "I don't believe it! I don't! That can't possibly be true!"

I rolled my eyes when he didn't look and nodded when he looked back.

"(I don't believe it either…)" Costas thought.

"(In this day and age especially…)" Ian pondered.

"I find it odd that I don't believe this! Oh no wait, I _don't!_" He smiled and nearly came close to cackling to himself. "Tell me…Eduardo. How _old_ are you exactly?"

"Sixteen years, three months, twenty-nine days," I said, specifying my age.

He spent a few seconds thinking those spoken few words in silence before blinking twice and _then_ laughing heartily with mouth agape at what I said.

"(And I thought this guy's appearance and prattle _alone_ was enough to piss me off…but now I have to listen to his _laughter?_)" I thought while resisting the helpful temptation of shoving _something_ down that massive mouth of his, which will shut him up immediately.

"(That's _some_ hearty laugh that this guy's got…)" Ian thought, shockingly impressed at the guy's hearty laughter.

Costas shrunk his eyes to get a better look at something on him that caught his attention. "(His teeth are surprisingly white…)"

The Roman General stopped laughing after about twenty seconds of _continuous_ laughter before speaking once more. "Sixteen? _Sixteen?_ You're only a teenager! You're only sixteen years old? One-six years old? What kind of mind do you _possess_ to manufacture such a futuristic sphere?"

"Oy…" I moaned under my breath while he was still blathering.

"Although that mind of yours _would_ explain this impressive underground structure below your house…" he changed the topic, and spoke his mind. "How the hell did that _kid_ manage to build _anything?_ That's absolutely impossible! It just can't be done… And yet how did this _kid_ do so? And so _well_ too! I can't even _begin_ to fathom what methods this kid used to _build_ this place!"

"Who the hell are you exactly?" I interrupted, _severely_ wanting him to shut up already.

"Maybe he used a digging tool of some sort… Wait, what?"

I didn't like to repeat myself to this decadent, but I was forced to. "Who the _hell_ are you? Or to be more specific…what is your name?"

"…My _name? _Is that what you want to know? You want to know my _name_? Is that it?" He continued to prattle on, but at least he knows what I want.

"(How did this loquacious Roman come to be General? I'll never know…)" I thought before saying "Yes!" in an incredibly annoyed tone.

"(Damn this guy can talk so fast…)" Ian and Costas thought.

"Well if you must know… My _old_ name was Prattlecus since I could _not_ stop talking when I was younger."

"(And you _still_ can't now…)" I thought while he was still _prattling_ on.

"But after I joined this Roman military, I was given a _new_ name. I am no longer known as Prattlecus. Instead, my new name is…Mercury."

The instant that I heard that name, a long-dormant fireplace within me ignited. I could literally _feel_ the years of rancor build-up surge back through my body. I knew that Mercury was both a Roman _and_ a General. And now he's right in front of me.

"…" I did the best to hold in _all_ of my rage and spite until I felt like the timing was perfect.

Costas and Ian stared at me while I was beginning to boil from fiery rage. They knew that I was pissed off and _beyond_ willing to rend that Roman General to gory chunks with my bare hands. They shuffled themselves back significantly to avoid me when I explode.

Mercury felt something off when I was silent and "shivering" slightly. His first and only mistake was looking over at Costas and Ian and asking them a question. "Hey you two, do you know if you're friend over there is overheating or something? Because I feel like he's—(*Gag*)"

When he looked away from me, I literally _crashed _into the metal fence when dashing towards it. But it didn't even _faze_ me. Before doing so, I stuck my arms out, not even caring that I split my healing wounds open and caused fresh blood to flow moderately and stain my bandages _and_ my shirt, and got them outside of the metal door and immediately had the Roman General in a chokehold.

"_**I'LL KILL YOU MERCURY! YOU KILLED MY PARENTS, YOU SON OF A BITCH!**_" I shouted supernaturally, due to the sudden adrenaline rush I had. I continually slammed his head to the metal door with so much force that I was actually _denting_ his helmet, despite the fact that I had a limited reach to do so.

Also, the blue vein ring on my left eye returned, but I was never aware of its presence, nor was anybody else.

"(*Gag*) (*Choke*) (*Gasp*)…" Mercury was beginning to black out from lack of oxygen. He couldn't even _speak_ as I was brutally attacking him—much to my relief.

"(Damn kid…)" Ian thought at how brutal I had suddenly become.

"(Oh my God…)" Costas was shocked at how stalwart I suddenly became when he heard the loud banging sounds coming from me slamming Mercury's helmet onto the metal door.

Unfortunately for my sake, this moment that made me feel so alive didn't last as long as I wanted it to. The sound of metal on metal was enough of a distress alarm for the six soldiers on guard duty to rush over and do what they could to pry my arms off of their General's neck.

As strong as I had become during this brief moment, they were stronger than me and managed to pry my arms loose enough to have their General collapse onto the floor. And then they pushed me aside with enough force to have myself fall onto the wall behind me…_back_-first.

Despite the pain that was suddenly inflicted onto my back, I actually could care _less_, even though the harsh blow gave me a terrible headache, left me gasping slightly for air, left a reasonably-sized splat of _blood_ on the floor—which added to the existing blood on the walls—, and had me more pissed off than ever. I watched them casually walk off back to their posts, but this time, they were keeping a close eye on us, just in case.

Before I could even say anything about the trauma that I inflicted onto him, it turns out that he staggered back onto his feet momentarily, gasping slightly for air that I temporarily cut him off of.

"Damn kid!" He didn't even sound pissed off, just surprised. Then he walked back towards the metal prison cell door and began to breathe calmly, fortunate that he talked enough to develop strength in his lungs. "You're acting as though I've done something to you that gave you some kind of _grudge_ or something. What did I do? Did I kill your family or something? Oh no wait! I _did_ kill your—!"

He stopped talking when he lunged back to avoid me trying to grab him in the _exact_ same manner as before.

I gripped the metal bars of the door. "Why don't you step back here?" I said, pissed off more than I had ever been in my life.

He took off his helmet to check the damage on it before putting it back on, apparently caring less about the dent on it—even though I summoned up a tremendous amount of strength to do that. "No thank you. I'd much rather have you all come _here_ instead. It would be better for my overall being that way."

He snapped his fingers, which called the same guards who broke up the fight earlier, to come here again. Only this time, they unlocked the metal doors of our prison cells open, with the appropriate keys that they had on their possession.

But before I could rampage at their General once more, the guards immediately stuck their feet out and caused me to trip and fall over on the floor outside of the jail cell. That made me an easy target for the Roman guards to pluck me from the shoulders and hoist me up. The remaining four soldiers came in and grabbed Costas and Ian without any problems whatsoever. They were even more manageable to hold on to than I was. I on the other hand was consistently trying to fight my way out of their grip so that I could avenge my family and _kill_ Mercury.

"I _told_ you it would be more manageable for me," Mercury said before walking in front of me, and then touching at random areas on his face. "See? I don't have any scratches on me, except for that _choke bruise_ that you game me."

"I won't let you walk out of this village _alive_! You killed my parents in cold blood!" I shouted nearly at his face and tried in vain to escape the guard's grip. "I'll avenge them! You must _die_! Justice has to be served!"

"(Eduardo sticks to his goals with such tenacity…)" Ian thought.

"(He must _really_ love his parents to be still trying to kill Mercury…)" Costas pondered.

"Justice? _Justice?_" He nearly came close to laughing once more because of this reason. "In war, its kill or _be_ killed. There _is_ no justice. Your parents should've taught that to you."

"(Just the answer I'd expect from a murderer…)" I thought with a low mental tone.

"'Justice' is only an axiom of human judgment and common sense. It's nothing more than decisions deemed appropriate or inappropriate by masses of people, decisions that _most_ people feel comfortable about without confliction of their conscience! So if you want to hear about _my_ choice of 'justice'…" He walked towards the exit of the door, with the guards and us following him on the way out.

"(More torture?)" All three of us thought closely to those two words as we were reluctantly walking out.

"…You'll have to be outside and _crucified_ to understand!"

"_Crucified?_" All three of us shouted out in deep shock, well aware of what is involved with crucifixion.

Before we left the Prison Cell Room entrance, we were stopped by the soldier who defeated me in battle. But something was abnormal about him. He had his hands behind his back and was grinning with success.

I had a bad feeling about his presence.

"General Mercury," He began to speak. "We've succeeded."

As if savoring the moment, he pulled out his hands and revealed the S1-GS device to him before giving it to him.

"The magic orb is now in our possession."

"…" It only took me a few seconds to realize the situation and to start to shift violently in order to escape the guard's grip.

"_Now_ we've got what we've come for!" He said in a pleased tone before placing the S1-GS device away in his red tunic, within his torso. "It'll make _executing_ these three in public all the more enjoyable!"

"How did you bypass my security system?" I was using all of my power to escape, but to _no_ success. The guards were just much stouter than I.

"Hmm…" the soldier hummed, deciding if he should say something or not. He figures that there's nothing to lose if he says how, so he continues. "We reflected the energy with a sword. It happened by accident when one soldier failed in cutting apart the contraption."

"…" I stayed silent, with my head tilted onto the floor.

"What's the matter Eduardo? Do you _hate_ seeing this sphere of yours in the enemy's hand?" Mercury literally rubbed the S1-GS device in my face.

"He probably does Mercury," the soldier said.

"Good." Mercury smirked before walking outside, with everyone else following close by. "Sadly for you, _hate_ won't benefit you when you _die_."

"(They may not be able to access the device, but they now have it in their possession…)" I thought.

Costas and Ian gave one quick look at me and stayed silent as well. They knew that words won't help them at this particular moment.

The only thing that can help us three at this moment is a miracle.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Village (House Yard)<span>

Time: 1:01 PM (Afternoon)

We walked to the outside of my house. Waiting for us three were the remainder of the 1,000 soldiers in this legion. They were all armed to the teeth with daggers, shields, and swords. About half of them possessed javelins and a quarter of them possessed bows and arrows. The remaining quarter had control of two more weapons that could not be carried, only rolled: the artillery weapons Ballista and Scorpio.

The Ballista and the Scorpio are weapons used for the tougher tasks, such as destroying buildings by firing an oversized arrow at the walls. These weapons are perfect for what it's planned on being used for. And that plan is already made clear by the Roman General and his legion of 999 soldiers, but not to us three.

"Holy crap…" I mouthed these words when I looked up, shocked by the ominous sight.

"(Damn…!)" Ian thought at this horrible sight.

"Oh…my…God…" Costas widened his eyes when he saw all of the soldiers in one location.

"I _bet_ you three are surprised by this whole army of mine, aren't you?" Mercury asked rhetorically before facing us three when we came to a stop. "Don't worry, you three won't die by them. But you _should_ already know that, since you three are going to be _nailed_ to a stake in front of your pusillanimously cautious audience."

"…" We remained silent when we were reluctantly led to the fifteen-foot-long wooden poles placed nearby my house.

We were immediately placed onto the wooden poles, our backs firmly restrained onto them—adding insult to injury for our injuries—, with our hands and feet elongated and placed on the wood by the soldiers restraining us. Our shoes and socks were removed and left on the ground nearby.

"Since you three are going to die now, I might as well tell you what we're going to do now." Mercury walked close by us three, with his arms crossed behind his back, obviously enjoying what he was seeing.

After he said that, six soldiers came, each holding a large nail and a hammer. They positioned themselves to our hands and feet and then hammered the nail clean _through_ our hands and feet, with one swift strike of the hammer, causing blood to immediately squirt out of the center of our palms and the center of our feet.

The pain of it was horrendous, each of us yelping in pain when the hammers dropped down.

"We're going to reduce this serene village to the sand that it resides on!" He shouted loudly and laughed so hard afterwards that it masked the screams of us three when the nails were firmly hammered to the wooden poles.

After that painful event was over with, another event _more_ painful than the previous one began. The soldiers then tied ropes to the top end of the poles and with the help of more soldiers—as well as the Roman General Mercury—they _lifted_ the poles until they were vertical and the weight alone held them in place.

I was in the center and my brothers were to my side—Ian was to my left and Costas was to my right. They were only two-and-a-half feet away from me, easily able to see and hear what each of us are feeling.

So exactly _how_ did this part hurt more than getting nailed onto the poles? It's because of gravity acting on the new wounds. The nails unbearably pressed on our flesh, pinching flesh onto bone, often to the point where the flesh continued to tear away.

"Soldiers, _load_ the heavy artillery!" Mercury ordered in a _concise_ manner, rather than his garrulous manner, knowing well enough how concise one has to be with orders in warfare.

Within seconds, arrows as large as their short swords were loaded onto both the Ballistas and the Scorpios. The heavy-duty strings on those two forms of heavy artillery were cocked and held back by a sophisticated pulley operated by a rotating wheel.

"(Everybody in this village is as good as dead…)" I felt useless and feeble when I saw the Ballistas and Scorpios load from this small height. "(He now possesses my S1-GS device, and I'm powerless to reclaim it…)"

"_Aim_ at a building of your choosing, _excluding_ this one!" he continued to order while pointing at my house. Apparently, he felt like he wanted to spare us a _quick_ death, so that we would first be able to see the destruction of our hometown and in a way, have front-row seats to seeing the inhabitants depart from this world.

Once again, within seconds, the soldiers chose random buildings and aimed their heavy artillery weapons towards them. True to their given orders, they all avoided my home and aimed at other buildings nearby. At least two artillery weapons were locked onto one individual house.

"(We've failed…)" I felt enough despair to begin to cry. One tear rolled down my cheek and fell onto the sandy floor before quickly becoming assimilated by it. "(_I've_ failed… And _they've_ won!)"

"_**FIRE AT WILL!**_" He shouted.

Within only _one_ second of reaction time, every one of the heavy artillery weapons fired their ammunition at race car speeds. The immediate contact with the buildings was _more_ than enough to shatter their walls, immediately causing them to crumble and collapse. The subsequent rounds of arrows fired—delayed by twenty seconds of reload time—were enough to shatter another of the building's walls, which was _just_ enough to cause the house to collapse internally, often crushing its residents, or leaving them exposed to harm.

My brothers and I saw the blood pour out of the cracks of multiple buildings and it was then that I began to imagine the rest of what would occur to the people. I imagined all of them being crushed graphically, and pierced in tandem by projectile fire from Roman soldiers wielding bows and arrows. I also imagined decapitations by bladed weaponry made onto escaping villagers.

And all of this could've been avoided if the enemy had no clue of the existence of my S1-GS device, something that I'll likely never figure out as to how they knew of its existence.

"Eduardo…" Costas said concerned.

"Eduardo…?" Ian said caringly.

"…" I didn't reply, I just had my head aimed at the floor below, watching my tears fall onto the floor before dying on the sand, burying themselves by seeping through the individual grains. "(We'll likely end up like my tears: buried under the sand and left to deteriorate,)" I thought hopelessly.

"Have you given up _already_?" Costas said in a dubious tone.

"…" I didn't respond at all.

"If you have given up, it's not like you to." Ian said.

"You were never the kind of person to just give up," Costas added.

"…Well… What _can_ I do…?" I hardly spoke at all, hardly audible to my brothers. "What can I…_possibly_ do to stop them?"

"Break free," Ian suggested.

"…" I gave then both an uncouth countenance before looking at the continuing onslaught, noticing how it was beginning to move away from our location. "Okay. Just let me hop off of this pole and then I will—_**NO!**_" I said a sarcastic remark before continuing to speak. "How can I pry myself from this particular situation?"

"I meant break free from your thoughts."

"Really…? Because I thought—Oh, sure! What he said!" Costas corrected _himself_.

"Please redefine yourself…" I said, wanted to be sure what he meant.

"Remove from your mind the absurd idea of giving up!" Ian wanted me to get this message placed back into my head where it belongs.

I continued to look at the constant offensive attack on my hometown and realized that I _have_ to try and do something about it. I have to try and stop this attack, even if it'll kill me, even if I fail.

"…You…you're right…both of you…" I made sure they knew that I got their message. "I _shouldn't_ give up. It's not in me to."

After saying that, the enigmatic vein ring reappeared on my left eye once more, which made Ian—who was present on my left side—notice it and ponder what in the world it is.

"I never gave up after 159 _failed_ attempts at creating _my_ invention, the S1-GS device. Why should I surrender _now?_" I grinned after saying that, making it clear that I got my normal being back. "I'll free myself from this pole and _end_ that legion where they stand! And I'll make sure that Mercury returns home in a coffin!" I spoke in a confident tone before trying to free myself by pulling forward with both my hands and feet, mentally immune to the pain this was inducing onto me.

"(What the hell is he doing?)" Costas was somewhat dumbfounded by my unusual decision.

"(What in the…? Are those veins forming on the left side of his _face?_)" Ian was shocked at what was occurring to my facial appearance.

As I was continuing to try to pry myself free, slowly but surely, an unusual set of _transformations_ were occurring to me, and I was unaware of it all. To add to the spider web of veins returning on the left side of my face, tons of _new_ veins formed and spread across my _entire_ hands and feet, right down to the toes and fingers, which all followed after the veins on my left eye and the veins surrounding it. These new veins originated from the wounds caused from the nails and ended just before reaching the elbows and knees. These veins were incredibly noticeable, and as of now, made permanent.

Costas and Ian were visually drawn to what I was now becoming.

To add to this new phenomenon, my newly-formed network of blood vessels began to _glow_. To be more precise, they began to glow _red_. My eye color reflected this as well, replacing my ash-black eyes with crimson eyes. And to add to that, my whole _body_ began to emanate a sanguine red aura! My whole body radiated as brightly as a light bulb, but this field of aura was very condensed, concentrated, and only about a foot away from any given part of my body.

_**RAGE-FUELED CONFLAGATIONS CAPABLE OF BURNING ALL TO ASH!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE RED (FIRE) AURA!**_

_**PYRO-KINESIS UNLOCKED!**_

"(What in the—?)" I took notice of what was going on to me. I noticed that I was seeing what appeared to be a layer of aura surging before my eyes, my whole body glowing brilliantly red, but I didn't think much of it right now. I felt my strength increase gradually, and I could also feel the nails _loosening_.

"Eduardo, what's going on?" Costas asked worryingly.

"What's happening to you?" Ian did the same.

I tried harder now in freeing myself, gritting my teeth from the strain. The glowing that was occurring to me increased in size by double and it was now stretching about two feet from every part of my body.

Costas and Ian were in disbelief now at what was occurring to me.

With a battle cry, I made one final forward tug with both my hands and feet. And in doing so, I actually succeeded in prying myself free.

I pulled off the nails on both my hands and feet and then threw them aside, not even noticing what position I was in until I saw where the nails landed. They landed _below_, and this meant one thing to me:

I was now floating in mid-air.

I looked down at the sandy floor below and thought "(What's going on?)" with incredible disbelief. I looked at my hands and feet to notice that not only was I glowing red, but I grew an intense amount of veins on them. "(How do I get _down_ from—?)"

I thought the word "down" and that was enough to cause me to hit the floor. I got up quickly however, to my surprise since I had nails piercing my feet earlier.

As of this moment, I felt as if I've untapped a dormant power within me, the origin of which was surrounded in a veil of anonymity. The odd glowing and veins sticking out of my skin made me think about the other oddities about me.

"(I always knew that I was different from others. My dreams involving future technology, my I.Q. in excess of 10,000…and now I have this _aura_ emanating from me…)" I thought, unsure of my being for a moment. "(What _am_ I?)"

"Hey Eduardo, can you get us down from here?" Ian asked me while I was still dumbfounded by this energy of mine.

I looked up with radiant sanguine eyes, simultaneously caring and ominous to my brother's viewpoints. "Sure…" I said, temporarily forgetting about their presence.

As quick as I was able to, I leaped into the air, quickly tilted myself perfectly sideways, and spun my body in a boomerang-like manner—being the oddball that I am. Once I stuck out one foot and one arm, they immediately made contact to the wooden poles, and to my surprise, I cleanly cut _through_ them without injury.

As the poles with my brothers on them were beginning to fall, I realized that I got a bit reckless with my action.

"Not that way!" Costas shouted as he and Ian were beginning to fall.

"(Oh shit!)" I stepped behind both poles and held out my hands, as if I were trying to catch the poles when they were falling. To my surprise, I actually _did_ stop the poles from falling, but without _touching_ them. Instead, my whole body—eyes and veins included—switched colors from red to _purple_ instantly.

_**PSYCHIC ABILITIES TO CONTROL YOUR SURROUNDINGS!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**PURPLE (PSYCHIC) AURA**__**!**_

_**TELEKINESIS**__** UNLOCKED!**_

"(What the _hell_?)" I was confused by my ability in stopping them from falling without even touching them. They were floating in mid-air now, due to my newly-awakened psychic abilities. "(Is this…telekinesis?)" I thought before visualizing setting them down, surprised that they actually _were_ set down in an instant.

Now I thought of removing the nails from them, and became astounded when my mental command worked flawlessly.

"(10,000 I.Q. _really_ has its benefits…)" I thought.

Costas and Ian quickly got up, not badly shaken by the holes made onto their hands and feet, because it simply slid between bones and tendons. They immediately walked near to me and were astounded by my presence.

"What's happening to you?" Ian inquired.

"How are you glowing?" Costas inquired.

"…I have no idea…" I said truthfully, just as oblivious as they were.

As the army continued to destroy buildings, the Roman General Mercury noticed me from his location. "(How'd they get down from those poles?)" He was slowly filling up with disbelief when all three of us broke free from the poles. But then his train of thought turned when he noticed the odd _light_ from my location.

Eventually, he began to realize that the energy field came from _me_.

"(Whatever is going on over there, I should put a stop to it…)" He thought, unsure about how I was glowing. He walked towards a Ballista that was currently being unused and he loaded it before aiming it towards me. Without a second thought, he fired.

"…But I think that the colors I'm forming resemble a type of power." I explained what _little_ I knew to them. "Purple must symbolize psychic abilities and red must resemble—"

I was immediately shoved onto the wall of my house by Mercury's Ballista's attack. The oversized arrow immediately and easily pierced me through the stomach, splitting my internal organ _almost_ in two. I was held in place onto the wall, my feet dangling short off of the sand. Blood quickly escaped my body and soaked the wooden arrow, as well as the wall behind me, before slithering its way down the wall and onto the sandy floor where it was disappearing. Blood also found its way out of my mouth and completely coated my chin in red. I fell unconscious and limp the instant I was slammed onto the wall, which caused my glowing to cease the instant I fell unconscious.

"(…Huh…)" Mercury thought confused, not ever occurring to him to move after he fired. "(That kid was glowing like a torch. What caused it?)"

"…" My brothers were speechless when they believed I had died from that shot. They stayed silent for a good few seconds, nearly ready to sob, _before_ noticing something about me.

My fists tightened with fury, causing the new-network of veins to bulge slightly from tension. My face formed a nasty scowl of spite, and more veins formed on my new wound, zigzagging across the point of impact. Now I had a massive vein collection on my stomach that stopped when it reached my sides, sternum and waistline.

"(I don't believe it…)" Ian thought in complete disbelief. "(The resilience of his is… it's _otherworldly!_)"

"(He didn't _die_…)" Costas thought, shocked at how I was still alive, especially with the entire trauma I endured over the past few days. "(So much endured trauma… and so _much_ more willpower to overpower it…)"

I was conscious now, but I didn't open my eyes yet because I was too full of rage to do so at this moment. With my right hand only, I pulled out the arrow pinning, piercing, and holding me to the wall and fell to the sandy floor below, leaving a trail of blood on the wall and a puddle of blood when I slid down. I never let the arrow go from my grasp. I clutched it tightly, clutched it _vindictively_.

I then began to glow green—much to my brothers' surprise—and that green color represented something new and supportive.

_**THE ABILITY TO HEAL AND EVEN MEND BROKEN BONES!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**GREEN (HEALING) AURA**__**!**_

_**SUPER RECOVERY**__** UNLOCKED!**_

As I appeared to be resting with my back against the wall of my house, I could feel the green-colored light refuel my body with energy. Also, I could feel _all _of my wounds heal with miraculous speed. My stomach was miraculously sealed back together as well.

But there was a price to this incredible and exotic energy.

Scarring formed onto the outside wounded areas, not the inside because internal organs replace their entire cellular structure at a faster rate. My feet and hands formed round scars, which made the veins appear as if they formed a ring around where the wounds formerly resided on, that would eventually be lost after about a few dozen shed layers of skin.

But my back was a different story.

The scarring was more gnarled and obscene than usual. The scars will likely never disappear.

"(His wounds… They've healed…)" Costas thought amazed.

"(What blessed him with this power?)" Ian was beginning to form conclusions based on my oddity.

Once the green light wreathing and aiding me disappeared, I opened my eyes just seconds before they reverted from green to ash-black, retaining my scowl in the process. I kept my eyes secured onto Mercury, and rubbed off the blood running down my mouth and coating my chin. After that, I felt what became of my back with my left hand, and I was in for a shock.

Upon first touch, I became absolutely _disgusted_ when I felt gnarled and lumpy scarring. It was as if I had the landscape of Earth on me. It felt as if I had mountains and valleys running across my back. I found that whole repulsive topic disgusting and one of the few things that I could gag over.

"…They'll pay…" I muttered spitefully at the enemy Romans before tightening my grip on the blood-soused arrow. I got back up on my legs, never looking away from my target—Mercury. "…They'll _all_ pay with their blood!" I spoke with enough volume to get two things: the silence of my brothers and my red aura returning to me from spiteful anger.

Both of my brothers didn't say a word after hearing my malicious words, they were actually a little bit apprehensive of me. They believed that my personality was unusually different now since I got this energy and after I was suddenly shot down and assumed dead.

But deep down, they actually were astounded and even impressed with how I was _still_ capable of holding my own, after three days of unsatisfactory food and water, not to mention a _herculean_ loss of blood and back skin.

And they knew why. They knew, because of the sparring matches we three had, despite my reluctance in participating because I hated fighting loved ones, that I was the most resilient of the three. I was also the most willful of the three—and quite possibly _anyone else_ on this planet.

Mercury was the only one watching me from about 700 feet away, and he was astounded at how I was still standing up on my own two feet. "(Wow… The willpower and resilience of that kid is worth admiring…as well as that whole glowing thing of his… He should've died by now…, but he's still alive and _standing_…)" He thought, admiring my characteristics, but was naïve when it came to my glowing energy.

It was then that an idea emerged into his head.

"(…now I see why the emperor of Rome was interested in this boy.)" He then looked at his Ballista and had a thought occur to him. "(If he avoids this next ballistics attack…)" He reloaded the Ballista that he was operating and cocked the heavy-duty string back to prepare to fire it. "(…Then I'll have a little talk with him.)"

I saw Mercury and him alone load an oversized arrow reserved for me. Immediately, Mercury fired it at I saw the oversized arrow come to me at 200 mph. I formed a stance and now kept my eyes locked-on the projectile.

I smirked when the ballistics round was close enough of striking me. When the time was right, I ducked to avoid it from piercing my head, and then with incredible speed and reflexes, I twisted my left foot and ankle on the sand, having It 180 degrees _backwards_—without dislocation or pain—and spun the rest of my full being around 180 degrees backwards and actually grabbed the arrow by the tail end with my left hand.

"…Whoa..." Mercury didn't expect to see me avoid such a fast shot, let alone actually manage to _catch_ it.

"…Wow…" Costas and Ian muttered under their breath. They were beginning to realize that this glowing of mine was _exponentially_ improving my overall abilities.

I didn't stop after catching the oversized arrow. Since I was still emanating a vehement red aura—and I figured each color represented a class of power—, I took advantage of that for my next attack.

I turned back around and twirled the arrow as if it were a small spear until the head was aimed directly at Mercury. I now had both oversized arrows aimed at Mercury, with the intent of aiming them at both his heart and head. Then, I intensified the energy emanating from my hands and actually managed to light both arrows on fire, and without burning my hands in the process.

"How did you ignite those oversized arrows?" Ian questioned me.

"How _aren't_ your hands burned?" Costas questioned me.

I only shrugged my shoulders, so as to not sound rude by not saying or doing anything. I was too focused on my next planned attack and my primary target. I stepped back mildly and bent my right arm back first. Trying my best to focus as much of my energy as I could, I launched the arrow and then bent back my left arm to fire the second arrow, both of them going at nearly _triple_ the first fired speed, nearing Mach 1 in the process.

"(_Pyro Comet_!)" I thought when I was seeing the arrows fly.

The first thing Mercury saw were two arrows firing straight at him and the first word that came out of his mouth was "Uh-oh" when he realized that he only had about two seconds to move away from the shot.

He literally ran as if his life depended on it. He ran at near-superhuman speeds before leaping when he sensed that the fired shots hit their intended mark.

One of the two fired shots hit and _detonated_ the Ballista that Mercury was operating and sent it flying 30 feet vertically in a massive fireball. The second shot skimmed right past the area where the Ballista was and kept going, piercing three soldiers through the stomach, before finally hitting a Scorpio and setting it ablaze. The soldiers whom were in the way fell over, dead before hitting the floor.

**Number of Roman soldiers remaining: 996/999.**

Now I had the attention of the Roman battalion. Every one of them ceased fire with their Ballistas and Scorpios and began chattering in disbelief at how I was able to do what I just did, especially when they noticed a Scorpio set ablaze and three of their fellow soldiers hemorrhaging onto the sand.

They now wanted my blood and mine _alone_ on their weaponry.

"Ow…my ribs…" The Roman General groaned seconds after he landed on the sandy floor. He tucked his arm into his tunic and pulled out what caused him significant discomfort: the S1-GS device. He held it close to his face, thinking "(I'd like to see that kid get his hands on this!)" with a grin.

"Damn, I missed my target…" I muttered.

Costas and Ian whistled in astonishment and kept their eyes locked onto the burning wood of one of the Ballista and Scorpio.

The instant I saw the S1-GS device exposed, I didn't waste any time in doing something about it. Just by thought alone, I literally _commanded_ my energy to turn purple for psychic aura, and then I held out my right hand and pointed it straight to my stolen device.

To Mercury's surprise, the S1-GS device that he was holding suddenly emanated purple energy. "What the hell?" Mercury startled back, letting go of the sphere in mild fear, believing that this was some sort of security system that it had.

To add to his surprise, the S1-GS device began to levitate, and then it began to float away from him and towards me.

"Oh shit!" he didn't want the S1-GS device to fly off, so he tried to catch it by lunging forward, but he only caught air before falling on his face and burying it into the sand, tasting it briefly.

When he looked back up, he noticed the S1-GS fly quickly towards my hand before it finally smacked onto my hand, its energy field dissipated when I no longer targeted it. I kept it there in my hand, knowing that it was safe and sound with me.

"…" Mercury didn't know whether to feel pissed off or embarrassed at the sudden loss of the target item. He knew what this would do to his credibility as a Roman General.

I held the S1-GS device towards my face and smiled warmly when I saw it safe and sound. However, that smile quickly turned into a serious countenance, because now I was left with two choices. I could assimilate the _entire_ army into my S1-GS device and have it end there with suffocation finishing them off.

_Or_ I could fight them myself and see what kind of a person I have become, with these new abilities that I've acquired.

Being the oddball that I am, I chose to test my new-founded strength and grinned maliciously at the thought.

I put away the S1-GS device in my right jeans pocket—barely having it fit inside—and found my shoes and socks nearby. I wasted no time putting them both back on my feet—after dusting off the sand that is—and then I faced the army once more. "(These Roman soldiers won't survive after _I'm_ done with them.)"

I saw them each unsheathe their bladed weaponry and load their bows. They didn't bother with the heavy artillery weaponry due to the lengthy reload time. They were ready for me, as was I.

The Roman General however, he had a different plan.

"General Mercury, what are your orders?" The alleged leader said as he and another soldier helped hoist their fallen General get back up.

"…" He was still deciding on his actions, especially after being astonished at my power.

Most of the soldiers, whom were waiting for his orders, felt as if something was occurring with their General. They knew that Mercury was an incredibly garrulous General. Seeing Mercury silent meant that he was aware of a serious predicament, and his army knew that all too well.

"Sir…?" The alleged leader spoke once more.

"…Do me a favor and please tell the soldiers to cover me… I'm going to have a little chat with this…_Eduardo_ kid." He spoke, abstemious of his choice.

"…!" He was fairly alarmed when he heard Mercury say what he did before his General walked towards my location. Reluctantly, he did what General Mercury instructed him to do. All of this was in case I showed any signs of danger against their beloved Roman General.

"…" All three of us were put mildly discombobulated when Mercury did what he was doing at this precise moment. I was a bit more discombobulated than my brothers, since I'm greatly more involved in this whole thing.

Reluctantly, I walked forward as well, not exactly sure what came over me when I was doing so. Perhaps curiosity was taking over in me, and I wanted to know what he had in store.

However, I was still emanating Purple (Psychic) Aura as a precaution.

"…!" Costas and Ian were somewhat surprised when I decided to mimic what Mercury was doing. However, they had some faith in what I was doing. After all, they've already seen what I was capable of, and they felt confident that I can single-handedly fight for myself against the Roman Army.

Both Mercury and I stopped walking when we were about ten feet away from each other. The whole village was so silent that all of the villagers came out of hiding to see what was going on. They were astonished at what they all saw.

They saw a human, his aura blazing and visible, standing firmly _against_ the Roman General and his 996 remaining soldiers.

"You, kid…you're an oddball. Do you know that?" Mercury spoke with a bit of a buoyant tone.

"Ever since I was born…" I didn't feel like talking or revealing information about myself to this loquacious bastard.

"The whole _glowing_ of yours… Do you even have the _slightest_ idea at how you're doing that?"

I had absolutely no clue at how I was glowing or what was causing it, however I have quickly accepted it, but only I—and perhaps my brothers—knew that at this particular moment.

"I'm not certain." I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm a neophyte to this…phenomenon…" I looked briefly at my aura glow and the thick field of veins on me, astounded at this odd and newfound ability, and not at the new collection of veins on me—because I'm not the type of person who cares about physical appearances.

"Do you want the time to master those abilities? If what you're saying is true, I can give you an _exceptional_ gift," He grinned mildly when saying that.

I honestly didn't care at all at what this "gift" of his is. I knew that I could make _anything_ better than what he has to offer, but I kept that thought to myself and played along with his actions.

"What kind of gift?" I said, feigning curiosity.

"How would you like to join the Roman Army?"

I almost didn't catch his question and nearly came close to asking him to _reluctantly _repeat his offer. However, I understood his question and avoided asking for a repeat. "What's in it for me?" I continued with my interested façade.

"Well for starters, we'll give you weapon training _and_ we'll help you in mastering those powers of yours," He said, hoping to have me—my abilities—join their side.

"(I can out-_weapon_ any of you just with the training I had with my brothers! And you _imbeciles_ can't help me master these powers if you don't know shit about them!)" I thought loudly while listening to Mercury give me immaterial offers.

"We'll also create your own weaponry and armor, as well as give you a luxurious home to reside in, much _better_ and _cleaner_ than this scorching wasteland." He made a remark about how much more hygienic Romans are than anyone else alive on Earth.

"(I can manufacture weapons and armor better than your army _ten_-fold without mental effort! And I'm sure as _hell_ not moving away from my laboratory to live with your kind of people!)" I continued to think loudly, and came to the point where I swore I thought loudly enough to silence all ambiences surrounding me.

"With your powers and futuristic engineering, I'll bet you'll be a General like me within _months_. You _alone_ can make Rome the most powerful empire in history!"

He looked away from me and stared at the sky, imagining a vision of the future.

"I can see it now…the _whole_ world under the rule of one government… One government, where their technology and economical progress exceed those of any other nation by hundreds—no, _thousands_—of years, will stand firm for eternity!"

"(I wish I can turn off my sense of hearing at will, so that I don't have to listen to immaterial prattle from an escapist,)" I thought as I reluctantly listened to his fantasy.

"So what do you say?" Mercury walked about three steps closer and took out his right hand, wanting me to shake his hand to accept his deal. "Are you willing to leave everything here behind in your past to have a fresh start in Rome?"

"(The balls on this guy…!)" I resisted the temptation to laugh at this bogus offer of his and extended my right hand out as well, turning off my aura field before doing so.

Costas and Ian were able to hear every word between us. They grinned because they knew I _hated_ the whole thought of Rome, ever since my—_our_—family died by them.

"(Your _unique_ skills will be an invaluable asset to Rome…)" He grinned mildly as I continued to reach out. "(World domination is absolute!)"

As I was within inches, my next action pissed him off. I grabbed him not by the hand, but by the wrist, and with an iron-hard grip.

And then I gave my reasons for _refusing_ his offer.

"You _murdered_ my parents and then desire my device for antagonistic intentions! You have your men torture us and then nail us onto a wooden stake! What kind of mind must you possess to actually _believe_ that I'd join you?" I shouted almost at his face. And in doing so, my body, veins, and eyes began to glow orange.

_**POWER ALONE TO HAVE YOUR OWN BODY COMPARED TO A DEADLY JUGGERNAUT!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE ORANGE (MELEE) AURA!**_

_**MARTIAL BOOST UNLOCKED!**_

Mercury did _not_ like my choice of actions. "You little fu—" He tried to speak against my decision, but I quickly tugged on his arm. And as he came to me, I enjoyed doing what I did next.

With a smirk, I curled up my fingers on my left hand to form a fist and gave it to him _brutally_ in the face, striking cleanly at his right eye! I punched him on his right eye so hard that I caused it to _explode_ upon impact, as well as knock his helmet off, exposing the back of his neck.

But I didn't stop there.

Ignoring his shocked and stalwart cries of pain, I grabbed his forehead forcefully with my left hand, pulled his head down a few feet, let go of his wrist with my right hand, and gave a stalwart right elbow jab to the back of his neck. After that, I let go of his head and then Mercury fell to the floor, limp and bleeding considerably from his right eye.

To his army, they believed that I had cracked his neck and _killed_ him with little effort and mercy. But in reality, I held back my newfound power enough to temporarily disrupt Mercury's nerves and only make him fall unconscious. His men didn't know that, and they were pissed off now.

Costas and Ian approached us and tapped Mercury slightly, in the head with their feet, to see if he was conscious. To their relief, he wasn't.

In only one second, I transformed my orange glow to purple once more and extended out one hand to Mercury. After two seconds, his body briefly emanated purple light before being sent forcefully to the top of the pole that _I_ was on, since it was the only one of the three still erect. Using my newfound telekinetic powers, I picked up both of my nails and fired them to Mercury's hands and feet as if they were bullets, instantly drawing more blood and _crucifying _him onto the pole.

He should be fortunate that he is mentally absent at the moment to feel any further pain.

"(A little taste of your own medicine, Mercury,)" I thought to myself after nailing him onto the wooden stake.

With that done, I now turned around and faced the Roman Army, with a serious look in my violet eyes. Quickly, I converted my energy from purple to orange once more. But before I did my next action, Costas and Ian spoke to me.

"Do you want us to help you fight?" Costas asked with no fear and total bravery.

"We can go retrieve our weapons and—" Ian asked with no fear as well, but was silenced when I lifted my right hand and wiggled my finger horizontally, telling them "no" with body language, not even bothering to look at them, because I needed to watch the enemy army with the intensity of a hawk.

"The only favor I'm asking you two to do for me…is to survive by staying back and out of this fight," I spoke somberly to them.

"…" They didn't understand my words at first, but after a few seconds, they knew what I meant. They knew that I wanted them to live, even if I have to die to try and fulfill my order.

"If we three fight and I die, I don't want you two to die with me in battle." I told them my reasons for them to sit this fight out. "So for your safety…and as for these soldiers…" I said before turning my head to my right side, keeping an eye on both my brothers and the Roman Army. "They're mine…"

Those last words of mine were enough for Costas and Ian to step back and go inside of the house. However, they popped their heads behind the glass-less windows, wanting to see the following battle.

I turned my head back to the Roman Army, knowing that as of now, this was between me and 996 participating soldiers.

"(With this newfound ability of mine—this…Elemental Aura—)" I pondered a name for these abilities off the top of my head. "(I will scatter your bodies all across the sand!)"

_Faint/Meteora/Linkin Park_

_(Song Begins with Electric Violin Solo)_

All of the soldiers unsheathed at least one of their swords, while the rest had already loaded their bows. I crouched down with both hands on the sand and my left foot far in front of my right—a sprinter's stance—, preparing to charge.

_(Drums Join In)_

I dashed from my starting place and ran _beyond_ normal human capabilities, exceeding _forty_ miles per hour within two seconds. It was beginning to become clear to me that Orange (Melee) Aura boosts physical strength, muscle reflexes, reaction time, and physical agility. The remaining army charged towards me as well, but they were not _nearly_ as swift as I was, with their heavy equipment strapped onto their beings.

_(Electric Guitar Joins In)_

To compensate for their lack of speed, they resorted to the "hit and run" technique. They tried to "hit" me with their arrows by firing them at me and continued to "run" simultaneously.

I evaded and repelled arrows fired towards me with little effort involved in my part. Within seconds, I was within the Roman Army itself, bashing away at soldiers with righteous fury and well-placed punches and kicks.

_(I am a little bit of loneliness, a little bit of disregard.)_

_(Handful of complaints, but I can't help the fact that everyone can see these scars.)_

I punched, kicked, evaded projectiles and shoved enemies aside with superhuman reflexes, killing most of them with only a few well-placed blows onto specific locations on their body. However, there were so many soldiers around me that they would occasionally land a blow while I was fighting another one of their comrades. One caught me from behind and scratched at my back with the tip of his sword—perfectly across my backbone—and tore my shirt open. In doing so, that soldier exposed the newly-formed scars on my back.

I was pissed off and roundhouse-kicked the soldier in the head with enough force to easily snap his neck. Without wasting any time, I picked up his sword and expertly used it against the soldiers as they continued to come.

_(I am what I want you to want, what I want you to feel.)_

_(But it's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you, to just believe this is real.)_

I evaded some more sword chops and stabs with their javelins merely by tilting my head side to side. It was easy thanks to the Orange (Melee) Aura that I was emanating, allowing me to _quadruple_ my mental FPS (Frames Per Second) rate from the normal 30 FPS that humans can muster, before slashing their sword-wielding arms off.

Ignoring their screams from blood _squirting_ from their arms, I grabbed the arms from surrounding soldiers—preferably those who brandished javelins. I bent their elbows _backwards _by bringing my knee up when I gripped their arms and pulled them down, snapping their elbow joints harshly, poking the bone through their skin, and causing them to drop their javelins in the process.

_(So I let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do.)_

_(Face away and pretend that I'm not, but I'll be here 'cause you're all that I got.)_

I quickly picked up about five of the javelins, dropping the sword onto the ground in order to do so, and lit their tips on fire just by gripping the javelins by briefly converting my Orange (Melee) Aura to Red (Fire) Aura. To give myself some space and to avoid unnecessary damage from interference, I converted my aura energy to Purple (Psychic) Aura and thought of levitating the sword I dropped purposefully onto the floor and having it orbit madly around me, which worked in keeping the soldiers aside, but not the archers.

Noticing the archers in front of me beginning to load their bows, I acted quickly and telekinetically fired _all_ five of my flaming javelins to them, piercing two of them through the head, two of them through the neck, and one through the heart. Their armor offered no resistance from the fire that melted through it on contact.

**Number of Roman soldiers remaining: 893/999.**

However, in doing this move with Purple (Psychic) Aura, I had sustained mental stress in the form of a terrible headache, which caused me to drop the sword reluctantly and back onto the sandy floor. "(So there are _cons_ to these powers…)" I thought before picking up the sword while holding my head with my left hand, tolerating this type of pain for as long as this battle will persist.

_[Chorus]_

_((I can't feel the way I did before!))_

However, there were about five _more_ archers behind me that caught me off guard and fired their arrows at my back, drawing even more blood, as well as my anger.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

Without looking back, I merely thought of those archers being flung towards me, and they did, suffering from hemorrhages to _all_ of their internal organs due to the sheer acceleration of coming over.

_((I won't be ignored!))_

I converted my Purple (Psychic) Aura to Red (Fire) Aura once more and _ignited_ the sword I was holding, never burning myself in the process. With only one quick horizontal slash of the flame-coated blade, I rent all of the incoming soldiers by slicing them all cleanly through the _waistline_, as if they were butchered pigs hooked onto the ceiling.

In doing so, I literally _scared_ the soldiers back.

_((Time won't heal this damage anymore!))_

With this brief cease fire, I quickly tried to rejuvenate by utilizing Green (Healing) Aura. As my wounds were finishing healing, one soldier snapped out of cringing and took out his short sword, as well as one from a fallen soldier.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

That one soldier tried to ambush me and stab me through the back. However, he wasn't _silent_ enough. When he tried to impale me, I dropped to the floor—forming the push-up posture—converting my aura from Green (Healing) Aura to Red (Fire) Aura.

_((I won't be ignored!))_

Quicker than most soldiers could follow; I gave a rising arc, double mule kick to the soldier's wrists, burning them mildly and sending both of his swords flying high and gyrating madly into the air, and leaving myself in the handstand posture. They coincidentally landed on two far off soldier's heads, but I didn't notice.

After that, I twisted my arms to turn my body in a horizontal sweep, double kicking—and slicing with heat as if it were a blow torch—the soldier's feet off. But before he could fall to the floor in pain, I continued to spin until I got back onto my own _two_ feet and then mere by thinking "(_Pyro Burst_!)", I made a sudden burst of fire that exploded _all around_ me, knocking back dozens of soldiers surrounding me within seven feet, incinerating them instantly.

_(I am a little bit insecure, a little unconfident.)_

_(Cause you don't understand I do what I can but sometimes I don't make sense.)_

I was beginning to feel some more side effects that were slowly causing me to weaken. I was now beginning to feel as if I had a fever, as well as feeling an itch caused by overheating on me. But I was never one to give in to pain and/or sickness, and I'm _not_ giving in to side effects now because this village's _future_ as a halcyon and remote area is residing on my shoulders.

I continued to fight and evade with Red (Fire) Aura, albeit slightly weaker due to my growing headache and mild fever.

_(I am what you never wanna say, but I've never had a doubt.)_

_(It's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you for once just to hear me out.)_

**Number of Roman Soldiers remaining: 769/999.**

Soldiers were closing in on me now. They were gradually improving in attempting to cut, shoot, and stab at me before I killed them. It was clear for me to say that I was slowly overcoming to fatigue, but I continued to endure, because of my willpower surplus.

_(So I let go, watching you turn your back like you always do.)_

_(Face away and pretend that I'm not, but I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got.)_

I was slowly getting cut all over, and it was then I realized I had to move _quickly_ to a less concentrated location. Since I was still utilizing Red (Fire) Aura, I channeled its energy into another blowback explosion.

After the explosion—which killed a couple dozen soldiers by the shockwave alone—the soldiers expected to see me still on the floor, but they were surprised to see me fifty feet above them and _floating_ in mid-air.

_[Chorus]_

_((I can't feel the way I did before!))_

I repeatedly thrust my arms forward, with palms facing forward, while levitating in mid-air, firing off smaller fireballs than the one I called _Pyro Comet_ earlier.

"(_Pyro Scattershot_!)" I thought while firing multiple fireballs in quick succession, seeing them detonate as if they were cherry bombs, drastically injuring the soldiers whom _didn't_ possess large, curved, rectangular shields.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

_((I won't be ignored!))_

I now launched multiple roundhouse kicks and arm sweeps in mid-air, and by simply thinking "(_Pyro Roundhouse_)", I launched multiple blade-like waves of fire that rained down onto the soldiers, burning them to a crisp upon full impact.

_((Time won't heal this damage anymore!))_

Besides my best efforts in preventing an attack onto me, some soldiers were evasive enough to reach the heavy artillery weaponry, as well as load their bows and arrows. Before I could notice them, I felt their fury narrowly pass by me, some rounds scratching against my skin, coming within millimeters of penetrating me.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

My Red (Fire) Aura dissipated when I thought of landing onto the floor. However, I fell too quickly and landed forcefully onto the floor, knocked temporarily unconscious.

_((I won't be ignored!))_

All of the soldiers cheered briefly before six of them crowded around me and drew out their short swords. Without any mercy, they basically made me become a pin cushion, with _six_ swords stuck on my back—one on each shoulder blade, two below the ribcage, and two more on my pelvis bone—, making my back look like the number six on a die.

Big mistake…

_((NO!))_

I opened my ash-black eyes and _immediately_ exploded with Purple (Psychic) Aura, causing more massive knockbacks that killed most around me, pierced a few more, and broke the bones of many more due to them being violently pushed back. Besides that, my aura field doubled in size, stretching four feet from wherever part of my body.

Quickly, I thought of _myself_ being lifted back onto my feet, and I was lifted in a manner so supernatural that made a few of the soldiers succumb to fear.

_((HEAR ME OUT NOW!))_

"(It's time for you all to pay in your own blood!)" I suddenly turned red instead of purple and jumped high into the air, pulling off one of the six available swords stuck on my back—completely disregarding any pain—, immediately coating it in fire upon removing it, and then I threw it downward, with enough force to cause it to _detonate_ and obliterate whatever is within fifteen feet around it.

This proved devastating to soldiers that were clumped together.

_((YOU'RE GONNA LISTEN TO ME, LIKE IT OR NOT!))_

After landing with a _Pyro Shockwave_, forming earthbound rings of fire upon impact—killing about five or so soldiers—, I made my next move. I pulled out the second of six swords on my back and ignited it in fire merely upon touching the hilt.

_((RIGHT NOW!))_

I threw the sword with fire as if it were a chakram, only this one could decapitate without abating itself. It didn't slow down even the mildest while it was rending off body parts through its trajectory path.

_((HEAR ME OUT NOW!))_

I leaped high into the air again and drew out two more swords—the third and fourth—from my back, leaving me with only two left, one on each shoulder blade. One of the two "unsheathed" swords was launched onto a concentrated throng of soldiers and the other sword was used for me to nosedive back down below, impaling one unfortunate soldier in the process.

_((YOU'RE GONNA LISTEN TO ME, LIKE IT OR NOT!))_

I began to unleash a flurry of sophisticated sword swings to the soldiers around me with the fourth sword, causing it to spew fire out as if it were a fire-breathing dragon. My attacks were so dangerous that most soldiers did their best to stay back and defend with their shields. To the ones that decided to press their luck and fight back, they were quickly chopped and burned alive by my fire-coated swords.

_((RIGHT NOW!))_

I chose to levitate once more in the air, so I could throw this sword onto the sand below, and have them detonate and kill off more soldiers.

**Number of Roman Soldiers remaining: 531/999.**

_((I can't feel the way I did before))_

However, I was feeling more of the side effects to my aura powers after launching such stamina-demanding attacks. I held my head, feeling the painful headache and even a heat-induced _fever_ build up within me. And recently, I was feeling fatigue to the point of moderate hyperventilation, seeing my vision and hearing warp and blur for a second or two as well.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

"(Overheated…)" I thought while feeling mildly nauseous. It was then that I realized the water from the Indian Ocean, just off the coastline. I levitated over there as fast as I was able to, narrowly avoiding Ballista rounds, Scorpio rounds, and arrows from the Roman archers.

Within 100 feet, I was beginning to descend reluctantly, because my current condition was enough to cause me to drift between consciousness and unconsciousness, causing my aura field to flash and fade somewhat. I continued to evade Roman ballistic weaponry and knew that I'd make it to the Indian Ocean waters.

"(Almost…there…)" I thought feebly, planning my next few moves with whatever consciousness I could muster.

_((I WON'T BE IGNORED!))_

_(Song Pauses Abruptly)_

Finally, I was directly above the Indian Ocean, and not a moment too soon. I was finally ill enough to not use my aura powers anymore and fell to the water 100 feet below. But even to _my_ surprise, I didn't fall unconscious, despite my current condition.

I took a deep breath before falling and being assimilated into the cool waters of the Indian Ocean. The water was immediately soothing to my overheated body. It was almost as though I was relaxing in my air-conditioned laboratory, only it felt as if my laboratory was flooded with water instead of air. The feeling of weightlessness was relaxing to my aching muscles and _already_ curing me of my fever and fatigue.

However, the water wasn't curing me of my wounds, since I can visually see the blood pouring out of the wounds on my back and everywhere else on my body. That part, _I_ had to take care of myself.

"(These past few days have been _hell_ to me…)" I thought as I looked at my body, feeling some of the wounds that I had on me. I checked the wounds mostly on my back, noticing that my shirt was torn in half, right across the backbone line. "(So why am I not only _still_ alive…but given these odd…Elemental Aura abilities?)"

As I continued to ponder over that thought, I began to glow Green (Healing) Aura once more with enough intensity to illuminate the dark waters below, feeling my wounds close and seal with little time flowing by, which is good because I was only able to last underwater with one full breath for about two minutes.

Due to being submerged in relaxingly cool water, I swore I felt not only all of my wounds heal, but my fatigue disappeared and my energy was replenished as well. Once the lifesaving holy-like light disappeared, I felt fully healed and rejuvenated. Not only that, I also felt my back touch the sandy floor below—or to be more precise, I felt a discomforting poke on my scapula bones from both remaining implanted swords touching the sand below.

Feeling as though I could lay here and stare at the light blue sky—as well as the disappointed faces of the Romans—serenely and forever, I knew I couldn't, because I now had goals that need accomplishing.

I had to save the village from the remainder of the Roman Army that I could see. I had to avenge my family by finishing off Mercury. I had to ensure the safety of the only two people in my family that I have left. And I _especially_ had to know more about these "Elemental Aura" powers, as I call them—and the veins that they've imbued onto my flesh's surface as well as the changed eye color that I didn't know about yet—, along with my supercomputer-like I.Q. and set dream choice.

"(Maybe I'll…never find out… But laying here in serenity…_won't_ give me the answers I want…)" I thought before beginning to glow once more. However, my veins, body, and eyes weren't emanating any one of these four colors at the moment—Red, Orange, Green, and Purple.

I was now radiating a new color. And that new color was…blue.

_**THE POWER TO WILLFULLY CONTROL THE OCEANS, WAVES, AND ANYTHING ELSE WATER-BASED!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**BLUE (WATER) AURA**__**!**_

_**HYDRO-KINESIS**__** UNLOCKED!**_

"(Those soldiers will _still_ pay with their own blood…)" I thought as I configured myself in the water until I was standing on top of the sandy seafloor, my shoes placed onto the sand. Next, I jumped off of it and began to swim upward, utilizing the "Man from Atlantis" stroke—a swimming style similar to that of a dolphin—to do so. The entire air issue wasn't a problem to me at all, since I still had a good 20 seconds worth of air left within my lungs, and being naturally nonchalant helps significantly.

The instant that I reached the surface, I kept going up until the entire army, as well as I, realized that I was making like Jesus Christ and _standing_ on top of the water's surface. Besides that shocking phenomenon that I was purposely setting mentally aside, I utilized this new Blue (Water) Aura to my advantage.

_(Song Resumes)_

_[Chorus]_

_((I can't feel the way I did before!))_

By utilizing a few moderate hand gestures, and by thinking "(_Hydro Gyro Bulwark_!)," I mentally commanded a clockwise, circular current to immediately rise from the Indian Ocean, form into a circular wall and revolve around me. Because of the water's translucency, I was able to see right through it and observe the reactions of the Roman soldiers.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

Due to natural human xenophobic thoughts that the Roman soldiers were currently experiencing within their minds, they reacted from fear and fired all that they had to fire. Basically, they fired arrows, Ballista and Scorpio rounds, and their javelins…_all_ of what they had in their inventory.

_((I won't be ignored!))_

"Stupid xenophobic degenerates…" I muttered with a serious facial expression and crossed arms, watching these rounds home in onto me. However, I knew I wasn't in any martial danger, because the instant that their projectiles struck my _Hydro Gyro Bulwark_, they were immediately swatted off course to my right side and rendered useless, much to the enemy's surprise.

_((Time won't heal this damage anymore!))_

Now that they couldn't fight back in terms of long-range combat, I uncrossed my arms with a serious countenance and put my hand's palms onto the water between my feet, causing myself to escalate about three stories with a pillar of water. Once high enough, I looked at the Roman Army below with hate before I placed my palms together in front of me. Then, I opened up my palms up to the bases of my wrists, and had all 10 of my fingers poking outward as if they were the tentacles of a squid.

"(_Hydro Tentacle_)," I thought as I somehow formed numerous gargantuan water-based tentacles from my _Hydro Gyro Bulwark_ wall of water, _all_ aimed to the entire army.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

I began to command the water-based tentacles, just by thought, to wreath around each individual soldier as well as their heavy artillery weaponry, despite them being out of ammunition. I even targeted their dead, desiring no trace of them to remain in this village. Dozens of soldiers and a couple of Ballistas and Scorpios were immediately and unwillingly dragged into the Indian Ocean each few seconds, placed between the _Hydro Gyro Bulwark_ and the coastline of my village.

Try as they might to free themselves, they couldn't. They could endeavor to rend the water-based tentacles with a sword chop, but what would be the point when they grow back in greater numbers.

_((I won't be ignored!))_

Once _all_ of the soldiers, as well as their entire inventory of weaponry, was placed within the water, I converted my aura field from Blue (Water) Aura to Purple (Psychic) Aura and levitated to where the Roman Army _previously_ was.

_((I can't feel))_

Once my feet felt the sand—something _slightly_ more secure to stand on—I turned around 180 degrees and faced the soldiers, all frantically swimming back to the coastline, their armor weighing them down and wearing them out.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

"(Blue (Water) Aura, Green (Healing) Aura, Orange (Melee) Aura, Purple (Psychic) Aura, and Red (Fire) Aura…)" I recalled the types of abilities that I've utilized currently while staring on at the Roman Army, watching them struggle to stay afloat. I then stared at my hands—currently emanating Purple (Psychic) Aura—and wondered if I could unlock a _specific_ type of ability by thought and concentration alone.

_((I won't be ignored!))_

"(Can I dictate…electricity?)" I thought, concentrating on the pleasure of being able to _electrocute_ the remaining Roman Army until they explode and sink to the ocean floor.

To my surprise, I _actually_ began to glow a new color that I immediately assumed was for lightning. I found myself emanating yellow light from my veins, skin, and eyes—which I was _still_ uninformed of. I was also feeling this sparking sensation all around me, as if I was generating electricity within me.

"(Apparently, I _can._)"

_**COMMANDING ELECTRIC WRATH IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE YELLOW (LIGHTNING) AURA!**_

_**ELECTRO-KINESIS UNLOCKED!**_

_((Time won't heal))_

Enough energy was being charged within me to discharge in small static bursts in random locations of my body. More energy continued to build up, and it was them that I remembered the two remaining swords lodged onto each of my shoulder blades. I knew metal conducted electricity just as well as water did, so I decided to involve them in this final electricity-based attack. And I knew that this would hurt the Roman soldiers _severely_ until death spares them further anguish, due to the excessive _metal_ they were wearing in the form of armor and weaponry.

_((Don't turn your back on me!))_

With grit teeth, I quickly pulled off both of the swords with haste, knowing that I was fully-charged with energy and ignoring the pain that the swords caused when they dislodged from my shoulder blades, having healed and stuck in place due to my Green (Healing) Aura. "(I'd better heal one last time after this…)" I thought, feeling my wounds open and vomit blood once more.

I gripped both swords firmly on my hands, electricity already surging through them, just waiting to fly off of the blade and attack the Roman soldiers until they die. "(_Electro Discharge!)_" I thought before twirling the swords expertly in my hands until the blade tips were aimed down, jabbing them into the water in front of me.

_((I won't be ignored!))_

The electricity, within _milli_seconds, reached their targets and fried them with their brutal energy. The soldiers were not only being electrocuted by the electricity surging within the water, but they were also being simultaneously burned to the third-degree by overheated armor, which shrouded 50% of their bodies. Steam surged from the water as it was trying to stabilize itself, but couldn't.

And just as I had wanted it to end, the _whole_ army _exploded_ in the most disturbing way imaginable. No pieces of their flesh larger than the size of their hands remained. All of their blood immediately dyed the Indian Ocean's water.

I retracted both of the swords from the water after discharging all of that energy, and watched on for survivors.

_(Song Ends)_

**Number of Roman Soldiers remaining: 0/999.**

It was safe for me to assume that no survivors remained. And after converting my Yellow (Lightning) Aura to Green (Healing) Aura to heal my wounds over the back of my shoulders one last time, I turned off my aura field, not needing it at the moment.

To make this particular scene more disturbing, due to my presence inside of the water when I was wounded and bleeding in excess, sharks sensed my blood, locked-on to the area, and rushed over to my location, hoping for an easy snack. However, I quickly replaced my position with the Roman Army's position and vice versa. So with the sharks coming from sensing my blood, instead of getting a snack, they will get a feast that'll feed hundreds of sharks.

And I _did_ see hundreds of sharks swarm over to the deceased army, chomping away at the abundant flesh as if this was a feeding frenzy. The sharks weren't slowed down by the fact that some chunks of flesh still had armor on them. They just easily ate that along with the flesh.

As much as I wanted to enjoy this gruesome sight to its fullest, I remembered there was still _one_ Roman left to eliminate: the Roman General Mercury.

Reluctantly, I did an about-face, not watching the gore fest occurring behind me anymore. After discarding the thought from my mind to avoid temptation, I began to proceed over to the pole where Mercury was nailed onto, dragging both sword tips on the sandy floor below, fatigued from my earlier brawl and conserving energy.

On my way over, I noticed that the villagers, despite the threat being eliminated, _still_ didn't reveal their presence. It was almost as though they feared _me_ now, and I was starting to believe and mentally-comprehend that unusual thought.

I remained silent when shuffling my eyes repeatedly, not noticing any of the villagers outside. However, I _did_ see Costas and Ian still looking outside of the window. They had dropped jaws and were in genuine awe.

The instance I was where I wanted to be, I looked up and noticed Mercury was _still_ unconscious, yet alive. Thanks to my hyper-sensitive sense of hearing, I could still hear his breathing without effort and heartbeat if I concentrated much harder.

I lifted the Roman sword on my right hand, with a face of anger, and sliced off the base in one stalwart horizontal chop. "(Timber…)" I thought, seeing the wooden stake fall over.

Mercury, to my surprise, _still_ didn't wake up. I was actually beginning to question if he was too weak to wake up due to loss of blood, but I quickly realized that Mercury's puncture wounds had already begun to heal, despite the nails still embedded on his palms and feet. So it was then that I decided to wake him up in a way most suited to this garrulous General.

"**WAKE THE HELL UP! WAKE UP YOU PRATTLESOME IMBECIL!**" I nearly shouted at the top of my lungs _directly_ to his face, never showing surprise at how I was still able to explode despite my current state of body.

The Roman General stirred and moaned "…Huh…what…" a little before finally opening his left eye—remember that I punched off his right eye into oblivion—, not caring at all that he's on the sandy floor.

Instead of noticing me staring at him with a blood-churning glare, he noticed the gore fest going on farther off, involving the sharks.

"You killed the _entire_ army…" he spoke in a weak, semi-monotone voice. "And yet…you refused my generous offer of—"

I brought up both swords to his neck, causing him to immediately shut up for the sake of his life. I had the swords held to him as if they were a giant pair of open scissors, with his neck as the paper.

"If there's even a _shred_ of intelligence in that debauched mind of yours…" I snarled at him. "…then you'll stay quiet unless inquired… Got it?"

He understood my words and nodded with stressful anxiety, nearly whimpering as if he were a frightened puppy in the process.

I scoffed, being mildly dubious at his response, but spitefully believed him nevertheless.

And so I continued. "Did you…_kill_…my parents?"

"(I have to keep to the mission orders, even if I die in the process…)" Mercury thought before swallowing in fear. Calming down only _slightly_, he reluctantly said "Yes" and cringed when he thought I would decapitate him.

To his surprise, I _didn't_ decapitate him. And it was because I still had more questions for him to answer.

I continued with my next question, and I used my S1-GS device for this one.

"Do you see this?" I said before glowing with Purple (Psychic) Aura and telekinetically exposing the S1-GS device from my right jeans pocket and to his face, deliberately choosing not to let go of either one of the two swords utilized in keeping his head back.

He looked at the gold and silver sphere and nodded.

"What were you planning on using this for?" I psychically commanded the S1-GS device to return to my right jeans pocket and I turned off my aura field once again.

"The Ro-Roman e-emperor wanted this orb t-to use for his e-empire's military," he stammered, attempting to bottle and contain his fear to the best of his ability. "M-my guess is t-that he w-wanted to use it to a-assimilate his e-enemies."

"(Just more senseless war…)" I thought, somewhat expecting that answer, and then continued with my questions. "And how did your emperor ever figure out about my invention's existence?"

I've been waiting to ask this question three days ago, when the alleged leader—whose corpse is resting in the bellies of dozens of sharks—told me his objective.

Dread and stress were beginning to eat away at him. He was sweating heavily and beginning to hyperventilate, _not_ to my surprise.

"H-h-h-how-w s-should _I_ k-k-know?" He was beginning to panic. "I-I-I-I d-d-d-d-" He stammered enough to the point of his speech being incomplete.

I was done asking my set of questions and was ready to decapitate him. However, just before I decided to do so, I noticed a specific detail in his eye. His left eye was resonating all over the place with stress.

I could tell that this guy was feeling _absolute_ trepidation.

I thought back to what the letter he wrote to me three years back mentioned.

* * *

><p>(Eduardo's Flashback)<p>

_Dear offspring (Eduardo, Costas, and Ian):_

_ I am sorry to inform you that your parents perished in the field of battle. Their last service to the military was on November of 46 A.D., where they valiantly fought, trying to prevent a Roman army invasion from succeeding. Their deaths were in vain, for the Roman Army invasion was unfortunately successful in their plans._

_ I hope you enjoy the remainder of your lives as happy orphans._

_Sincerely:_

_A kind-hearted soul._

_ P.S.:_

_If you three believed that pitiful _shit_ of a letter, _and_ cried at the same time, then you three are _pathetic_ and _imbecilic_ naturally. I loved slaughtering them before conquering with _my_ invasion of highly-trained and organized subordinates. I would love to go into the details on how much blood I saw them all shed and how _satisfying_ it was to slaughter them both—and I actually _can_ because of my nature—but I'm busy at this particular moment and must stop writing this letter as it is. _

_Yours truly:_

_Mercury, the Roman General in charge of the invasion._

* * *

><p>(End of Eduardo's Flashback)<p>

I thought heavily as to what the letter had to say and compared it to the personality that Mercury exhibited.

If he was one to enjoy killing, then why was he showing absolute dread prior to his decapitation? For someone who was trained to kill, he showed some signs considering otherwise.

Was he feeling repent for killing my mother and father? Not likely. If _anything_, his response earlier seemed unsure.

It was almost as if he was _ordered_ to do this to me, by his superior. I was leaning over to this &.

"(I wonder if…)" I thought about saying one last _decisive_ question to see if what I believed was certain. "Where were you on the entire year of 45 A.D.?" I said with a serene tone, completely opposite to how I've been speaking earlier.

"M-m-m-m-military-y S-s-s-s-school…" He came close to fainting from fear of death.

"(Military School…?)" I thought, being surprised at the answer that came from him. "(If he's telling the truth…and my family died in battle…then he was nowhere _near_ my family…)" I figured that his military school was at Rome. "(He's innocent then…)"

I made the blades twitch and that caused Mercury to flinch and close his eye in fear. However, just as he thought his life would end right there, he heard two slashing sounds and thought he felt his neck separate from his body. But that sound didn't cut his _neck_ in half. Instead, he realized that the sounds came from above his head and near his feet. When he opened his eyes, he realized that the nails _themselves_ were cut off—there was a considerable area of them exposed that I was able to target—, freeing his hands and feet. He also saw the two swords I was holding wedged onto the wooden stake below his feet, no longer being used anymore.

The next action that he saw was me activating my Blue (Water) Aura. I used it to command the water to expel the wooden heavy artillery, about a dozen of them only. Reconverting my current aura to Purple (Psychic) Aura once more, I mentally commanded _all_ of the pieces of wood, and nails, to split off and reconnect into the form of a boat—oars included. With that done, I turned off my aura field, not needing it currently.

"What are you doing?" Mercury spoke, already calming down, before getting up. He apparently didn't seem to care that his hands and feet are pierced through, because they've begun to heal and weaken in pain. "I thought you were going to decapitate me," he said in a tone that closely sounded as if he actually _wished_ for me to guillotine his neck.

"You didn't kill my parents, therefore I shouldn't kill you," I said in a relaxed tone before picking up both of the swords and giving them to him, since I didn't need them anymore. "That boat will help you get back to Rome," I pointed at the boat on top of the sandy coast. "However, you're on your own with collecting any provisions for your trip."

"…" He had no idea how I figured out that he was lying, and was also left greatly discombobulated by my choice of actions.

"Sorry about your right eye…" I said in an actual ashamed tone while pointing at my right eye, the one without the collection of new veins.

"…" he felt as if he should say something and not stay silent. "…It's okay. That eye was going blind anyway…"

He walked right past me and towards the boat, and then pushed it into the water with only modicum effort before stepping onto it and sitting down. He grabbed the oars and began to row to the direction where Rome is, by remembering that the sun sets to the west and using its position as a compass.

"Godspeed…Prattlecus," I said his true name and watched him disappear.

"Good-bye, Eduardo."

Within minutes, he was far away enough to appear as a spec off of the horizon, no longer having any business in this village and leaving without a trace.

"(That actually felt…good,)" I thought, feeling pristine, yet confused, about my choice in sparing his life. Part of me did want to kill him on cold blood—and I knew that I was capable of doing so—, but I chose not to because he was innocent in the only connection that he seemed to have with me: killing my parents.

I began to walk into my home, feeling a sense of accomplishment in eliminating the hostile Roman threat. But just before I passed through the doorway entrance of my house, I stopped then and there to turn around 180 degrees. I scanned the whole area, still not seeing any trace of the villagers reverting back to normality.

This caused me to worry significantly and question their reasons. With little time passing by, I mentally comprehended this situation and formed a hypothesis.

I realized that they have begun to _fear_ me.

"(…So…_this_ is how it's going to be…)" I thought.

I clenched my fists and begun to emanate Red (Fire) Aura out of rage, but within seconds, I dissipated that energy into thin air. My fists uncurled themselves and I gave one brief sigh. "(Fine then…)"

_Faint/TheKen's Piano Instrumentals/Linkin Park_

_(Song Begins)_

I walked through the entrance to my house and immediately went into my laboratory, not paying any apparent attention to my two brothers. I was too focused on my current choice of actions.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory<span>

Time: 1:48 PM

Costas and Ian followed close by as I walked down the stairs of my laboratory. They were somewhat confused at what I was doing now and were trying to follow me and ask. One clue helped them get back on track however, and it was my torn and blood-stained shirt lying on top of a desk. They just decided to leave my shirt there.

When I reached the Tech Room of my laboratory—with a new, pristine, and white shirt on that I retrieved along the way—, the first thing that I saw was the security tube that was utilized to protect my S1-GS device.

Or what was left of it.

It was cleanly cut in half—most likely from the laser beam cutting through it when the Roman soldiers utilized their sword's reflective surface—, and yet the accessories I made a few days ago were intact within it.

I obtained all of the S1-GS's accessories and placed the holster/strap on my right side already, with the thigh strap, belt strap, and shoulder strap all on me. I took out the S1-GS device out of my jeans pocket and placed the PSP chip (Plant's Survival Program) within it, giving it the capability to have plants survive and thrive within it now. Finally, I placed the S1-GS device back into its safe and secure home: inside of the holster.

Without a moment to waste, I proceeded to the elevator nearby and pressed the button, with the downward-pointing arrow, to call it forth to my location, which gave both Costas and Ian the opportunity to find me and catch up to me.

"Is something wrong, Eduardo?" Ian said in a worried tone.

"What exactly are you doing?" Costas said, being curious and desiring an answer.

I heard the bell sound off when the elevator arrived and then the doors opened up in front of me. I walked in and did an about-face, telling them my reasons with no surprises or hidden information. "I'm moving out," I said concisely, just before the doors closed, narrowly getting a glimpse of my brother's shocked reactions.

Both of my brothers were shocked for a few seconds, and then they quickly darted off to the nearby staircase, using the sound of the elevator's descent as a guide to my location.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Basement Room)<span>

Time: 1:51 PM

The Basement Room of my laboratory is a quiescent location compared to all of the other rooms. Only a massive metal door, locked by a message for a password, resides at the lowest area of this laboratory. This room acted as my treasure chest, because I keep my most valuable possessions inside.

The silence in this room was disinterested and left when it heard oncoming commotion in the form of rhythmic steps on stairs and a sudden "ding" from the elevator harboring Yours Truly inside it. The elevator door opened and I stepped outside it, stopping five feet later only when seeing the door with a feeling of serenity.

"(I always had a stalwart feeling that creating this basement would serve me providently,)" I thought with a miniscule smirk, as well as arms crossed behind my back, with my hands clamped onto the area above my elbows.

I continued over to the massive door, opening up a secret panel right beside it, exposing various identification devices utilized to enter the Basement Room beyond this door. To unlock the door, I had to place both of my hands on the handprint analyzer, open my eyes on the optical scanner, place a single strand of my hair on the DNA sensor, and say "Door open" to the microphone, all in tandem.

I closed the secret panel before retracting back, having the massive door leisurely unlock and open in front of me, which gave my brothers enough time to follow along with me.

"Eduardo, wait up!" Costas shouted to me the instant he was able to see me while hurrying down the stairs.

"What do you _mean_ you're moving out?" Ian shouted, mimicking Costas and following along.

As the massive door was gradually opening, I turned around and saw my two brothers coming down from the staircase. When they finally came down from them and were within four feet of my presence, I told them my reasons for my decision.

"Did you two ever bother to notice that even _after_ I defeated Mercury's Roman Army, the villagers haven't come out of hiding?" I said, speaking up slightly to overcome the screeching that the metal doors produced.

"…Yes…" Ian said while catching his breath.

"I _still_ can't believe what I just saw earlier…" Costas caught his breath sooner, and remembered the fight I was in.

"It was _epic_!" Ian added once he caught his breath and began to breathe normally. "I just can't believe that you spared his life."

"(Was I wise in setting him free? After all, I _hate_ Romans…)" I looked up at the roof and scratched the top of my head with my right hand, questioning my entire _being_ for that brief moment before realizing that I was trailing off from the main topic. "Anyway, I believe the reason is this:"

Costas and Ian redirected their attention back towards me before I continued with my theory.

"They've begun to fear _me_."

I noticed shocked and somewhat dubious reactions from my two brothers before continuing.

"I have a feeling that this is true. And if I don't leave soon, I might cause a vicious uproar amongst them. They'll turn on the three of us."

"…" The idea of leaving was a bit too much for Costas and Ian to comprehend so suddenly. They remained motionless while I stepped through the gargantuan steel doors. However, they discarded that action and replaced it with awe when they noticed what lied beyond the massive steel doors.

Within these doors exists an exact copy of every invention manufactured and every item inside the other rooms of my laboratory. Machines, items, Berry trees, weaponry, and _everyday_ items for people resided inside of here—except for the S1-GS device, my most recent invention.

I began to radiate Purple (Psychic) Aura and commanded the S1-GS device to leave its place and float just forward of my face. I checked to make sure if the button on its center was pointing upward before turning it 180 degrees and pressed the button in the center. The black hole it had within immediately began to assimilate all of what this basement had, and there was _a lot_ for it to assimilate.

One item was assimilated by the S1-GS device every second; and I separated the larger items, such as the Berry trees and machines, with powerful telekinetic abilities, to make sure no incidents would occur, such as a collision before assimilation. Within minutes, the basement was as clean as the day it was first built.

With that task accomplished, I telekinetically closed the device and had the entire basement revert to silence. Before having the S1-GS device go back to where it belongs, I caught a glimpse of my reflection across the silver surface of it, noticing my eyes were purple, just like my aura field, and I had a collection of veins running from my left eye to my left cheek, to my left jaw, and to the left side of my neck.

I didn't give my new appearance much thought. I simply walked out of the Basement Room and psychically closed the doors behind me with little mental effort. Once I heard them lock behind me, I disengaged my current aura field and continued with my conversation to my brothers.

"I've taken what I possess from here," I said the obvious. "This laboratory is now under the responsibility of you both."

My brothers were feeling sorrow, they didn't want me to leave, but they also knew that it was for the best, for the sake of the village.

This was just as painful to me as it was to them.

"I'm sorry that I have to leave," I said in a depressed, low tone. "I'll miss you both," I continued, feeling a bit of sadness as well.

I opened out my arms purposefully. My brothers immediately knew why, and moved in for a hug. It lasted for a few minutes, and it felt so serene and peaceful. All three of us couldn't help but cry, since we all had a feeling that this was the last time we would see each other in the same place.

"We'll miss you too…" Costas said with a mildly cracked voice.

"Godspeed Eduardo…" Ian spoke in the same manner.

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p>"To stop a human being from doing something, you must find a way to make the person stop wanting to do it." —Orson Scott Card ("<em><span>Xenocide<span>_")

* * *

><p>cru·ci·fy [kroo-suh-fahy]<p>

verb (used with object), -fied, -fy-ing.

1. to put to death by nailing or binding the hands and feet to a cross.

For the record, I'm using this word in the "torture" sense, not in the religious sense (which is why I never said "cross").

My profile has been updated with the contents of Elemental Aura, in case you're interested.

Seriously, I highly recommend you listen to both songs that I referenced, especially the lesser known piano version of Linkin Park's Faint.

Finally, please be generous enough to leave your opinion.


	6. Parallel Prologue (Part III (3))

If you guessed that Team Rocket was referenced in Chapter 4, then you're already ahead of the curve.

Also, if the length of this chapter seems overwhelming to you, that's my fault. I'll be sure to lessen the length of my future chapters.

Of course, that depends on what I write.

* * *

><p><strong>Parallel Prologue (Part III (3)): The Most Reluctant Decision of a Lifetime<strong>

The last place Lucario resided was by the Forest Cliffside, facing off against a Pokémon whom wanted him dead and soaked in blood: Absol.

Through a long battle however, a victor and a loser was decided between them.

The victor of the battle was—predictably—Lucario. He suffered only a few injuries in the process, since he used MEGA DRAIN to heal to near perfection during the middle of the battle. At the end of the battle, the injuries he sustained and endured with were scratches on his back and puncture wound bite marks on his right shoulder, a tongue bitten partially off, moderate internal bruising, first-degree burns, and multiple broken bones on his right arm and tail.

Absol on the other hand, suffered _more_ and endured _less_. It had one of its hind paws bending backwards and multiple bones protruding outward of its flesh, as well as a missing left eye, a mutilated blade-like appendage/right ear, and a face reduced to bone fragments.

In the end, Absol fell off of the cliff and disappeared within the foliage of the earthbound trees. Lucario nearly fell off of the cliff _himself_ due to exhaustion, but was spared a similar fate thanks to the quick reflexes and quick reaction time of Sceptile and Tiny, as well as one other Lucario by the nickname of Wanderer.

All three Pokémon pulled Lucario away from the cliff, and with the help of the whole throng of Pokémon, gave those three help by carrying the victor of this decisive battle to his room to recover from the serious—but not life-threatening—injuries.

To help out further, the throng of Pokémon also brought a surplus of medical supplies. They brought multiple Berries that they knew would aid the Aura Pokémon in his recovery. They brought Oran Berries to recover vitality and health, Rawst Berries to help his burns heal quickly, Sitrus Berries to help aid with the healing of fractured bones and the flesh that they've cut into, Lum Berries to help further with the burns and even to help recover some mild fur loss, and Pinap Berries which are helpful for making medicine. Added to the remaining Magost Berries—for flavor—that were in Sceptile's tree house, those Berries were utilized to make medicine.

Knowing that their work was done, they decided to leave matters to Lucario's friend's paws and claws.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Sceptile's House (Lucario's Room)<span>

Estimated Time: Afternoon

Once the unconscious Aura Pokémon had been placed on his personal bed, the three Pokémon began to help with his recovery. Each of them was assigned different roles to play with helping Lucario's recovery.

Sceptile was self-assigned the role of the medic because of its surplus knowledge over nature and its wondrous bounty. It converted the necessary quantity of Berries in its inventory into medicine by first slicing them all in half by means of LEAF BLADE, then extracting all of their juices by squeezing them into a cup of water, ensuring that there's an equal balance in both nutrition and flavor. It would also proceed to preparing a few more to utilize over the next few days.

"Thank Arceus that this evolution comes pre-equipped with a superfluity of knowledge relating to nature and its bounties," Sceptile spoke to Tiny, whom was sitting on a nearby table and doing its role relating to Lucario's recovery, while squeezing the Berries obligatory for medicine. "Don't you think, Tiny?"

"Yeah… Thank Arceus for that."

Tiny's role involved manufacturing the vast quantity of bandages, out of long blades of grass and leaves, for Lucario's wounds and burns to heal. Since Tiny had an exceptional gift for manufacturing helpful items out of forest materials, it was the _obvious_ candidate for this role.

"And thank It too that I've learned to weave helpful items out of what nature has to offer." It said while working with both high speed and precision. "Don't _you_ think?"

Sceptile just nodded, and Tiny noticed briefly before resuming its work, but that didn't last long because it stopped a little while later and looked outside a nearby window. "How long does it take a Lucario to gather fallen branches?"

"…I don't know." The Forest Pokémon replied. "Wanderer should've been back by now though."

* * *

><p><span>Location: Forest (Around a Heavy Amount of Trees)<span>

Wanderer was working on its role with aiding Lucario in his recovery. It was atop of the tree's branches, scanning the area around it with Aura Vision for a couple of _perfectly_-straight branches to utilize for realigning his fractured bones, one for Lucario's right arm and another for his tail.

"(I know they wanted me to gather branches on the floor…)" It thought to itself while scanning about the trees nearby. "(…but they're far too…decomposed for the task ahead. It's better to retrieve fresh branches from the trees above.)"

Once it found some branches, it proceeded to mutilate them. It used SWORDS DANCE to have its gold-colored paw-spikes glow and then modify to a length and dimension similar to that of a knight sword, only the blade lied flat along its paws—and still retained its color.

With its attack set, it leapt across the branches with sufficient skill before locating the tree with two branches on it, each one about three feet long, more than enough for what they're going to be used for. Next, it jumped one last time toward the branches before giving two slashes to their base in the form of an "X" before slamming into the tree, using SWORDS DANCE to cling onto the bark.

With its task accomplished, it deactivated its Aura Vision and SWORDS DANCE technique, and jumped off the tree, down to the brown soil below. It then proceeded to retrieve the fallen branches on the floor.

"(Now _these_ are as fresh as nature will deliver them as,)" Wanderer thought to itself with the branches in custody before strolling back to Sceptile's tree house, plucking off the leaves and budding branches on the obtained branches along the way.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Sceptile's House (Lucario's Room)<span>

Estimated Time: Evening

Wanderer finally arrived back to the tree house. It walked over to the kitchen to deliver the items relating to its task, and instead of receiving a cheerful "Good job, Wanderer" or "thank you, Wanderer" by its fellow comrades, it received _this_ instead by two Pokémon standing up by the kitchen entrance:

"What the hell took you so damn long?" Sceptile, arms crossed and a foul facial expression, was pissed off at Wanderer's lack of sense of time.

"We've finished a while ago with our tasks, and you've decided to take your time on a moment as serious as this?" Tiny mimicked Sceptile's actions and was as equally pissed off.

A miniscule blood vessel bulged behind Wanderer's head, just above its right set of dreadlock-like appendages. It _evidently_ didn't enjoy such a wickedly distasteful reaction by them. It extended out its right arm in front of Sceptile and exposed the pristinely-straight branches before telepathically saying "_Do you _want_ these Arceus-damn tree branches or not?_" in a slightly irritated tone.

Without removing its abominable countenance, Sceptile forcefully took the branches from Wanderer's paws and then ogled the pristinely-straight tree branches, pondering quietly as to why the light-furred Aura Pokémon took so long in getting them.

"_For someone as mentally-stalwart on nature as yourself, you fail to realize that the more_ appropriate_ tree branches are the ones that reside _above_ the forest floor, where they're less squalid, disease-ridden, _newer,_ and much stronger!_" Wanderer telepathically attacked Sceptile with its reasoning.

"…" Sceptile continued to stare at the branches, with its frustration and pride battered by sophisticated and acute vocabulary.

"_You should never judge someone when you don't know all of the facts_," Wanderer concluded before sitting down on the chair adjacent to Tiny's, relieved to have counterattacked at something that briefly pissed it off.

"Wow, you just got verbally subdued by Wanderer's vocabulary," Tiny said, sensing the shattering of Sceptile's pride.

"(I _really_ have to watch what I say and _think_ around these two species of Pokémon…)" Sceptile continued to do what it loved to do: ponder. "(Otherwise it can be utilized _against_ me when I don't want it to.)"

"I think you should apologize to Wanderer," Tiny added a possibility before removing the branches from Sceptile's claws and placing them along with its finished set of organic first aid bandages.

"You're right," Sceptile said feebly before turning to Wanderer. "Sorry about the outburst," Sceptile apologized in a lowly tone, without restraint or hesitating in the middle of it due to second thoughts of its mentioned words being the right thing to do.

"…" Wanderer looked over with its eyes only at the verbally-conquered Forest Pokémon and realized that it just overreacted. "_No no, _I'm_ sorry. I should've simply told you my reasoning beforehand._"

"…Well…okay then…" Sceptile was briefly stunned by Wanderer's sudden change in mood, as well as the turn of events that this specific part has taken.

It then recalled its conversation earlier with Tiny.

"Say Tiny," Sceptile dropped his height to its level.

"Yeah?"

"You remember our talk earlier in the morning about me being taught how to—"

"I haven't forgotten," Tiny reassured it. "We'll start your training tomorrow if you want."

Tiny then placed one of its paws on top of Sceptile's forehead, right between the upward-pointing horn-like structures, analyzing its mental capability.

"Although…" Tiny said in a concerned manner before removing its paw from Sceptile's forehead. "You'll probably be capable of learning about _half_ of what I can teach you."

"Define 'half'," Sceptile wanted a less vague answer, not caring if it can't learn everything in Tiny's disposal.

"…Well…" Tiny thought for a bit on what it can learn before speaking once more. "You'll probably b—"

"_You'll probably be able to gain some telekinetic and telepathic abilities._" A familiar voice spoke unexpectedly.

Everyone turned their heads to the source of the voice, and noticed Lucario leaning on his left side in the doorway to the kitchen. He was clutching his right arm, just above his elbow, with his left arm, keeping it away from further discomfort. His tail was dropped down, with its tip on the floor, as if it was discomforting keeping it level without having broken bones scrape against each other abnormally. He was also mildly spilling blood from his mouth—residue from his partially mutilated tongue. He still had a collection of burns scattered across his furry body, and his legs quivered uncontrollably below him.

"…" Tiny was left speechless at how Lucario could have the gall to get up in his current condition.

"…" Sceptile was in somewhat awe at how he was up on his legs, even if those legs were wobbling like sheets of steel.

"(…What a stalwart and willful Lucario…)" Wanderer thought to itself.

"_You'll most likely be able to learn mental techniques and utilize them at basic levels, but they'll be challenging for you to learn—oh crap, there goes my legs…_" Lucario lost control of his legs and fell face first—but not _snout_ first—onto the wooden floor below, with a light groan due to falling above his left arm, thankfully not his right arm.

With great concern, both Sceptile and Tiny rushed over to his aid. Tiny, to his left side, had a good grip on his left arm to help hoist him up, and Sceptile, to his right side, had a good grip on Lucario's torso—_not_ his right arm for obvious reasons—to help hoist him up.

"_You _really_ shouldn't be up an on your feet at the moment,_" Wanderer stood up from its seat and walked over to him, eyeing him in the face. "_After such a physically-demanding battle, it's _best_ of you to recover in the comforts of your own bed._"

Lucario feebly got back on his two feet and then lifted his head, noticing the light-colored Lucario in front of him. Instead of saying "_Fine then_" or some other form of comprehension, he said this instead:

"_Who the hell are _you?"

"_For the answer, you should ask your friend Sceptile,_" Wanderer pointed its left paw at the Pokémon to Lucario's right side.

Lucario looked over now at Sceptile, with a look on his face that easily referenced "Well?" without actually saying it.

"…Alright then…" Sceptile said before continuing, "Lucario…this is Wanderer."

Immediately, Lucario removed the aid from the two Pokémon to his sides, _not_ falling over once more after regaining partial lower body strength—much to their surprise—, turned his head to Wanderer's location and shrank his blood-red eyes immaterially and briefly. "_You mean the _same_ Wanderer that you were remembering by the waterfall earlier today? The _same one_ that stalemated against a Legendary Pokémon…?_"

Wanderer felt a bit admired when he said that.

"Yeah… And you read my mind to learn that, didn't you…" Sceptile felt mentally violated.

"_Sceptile,_" Lucario looked back at the Forest Pokémon, resisting the temptation to smirk. "_Your mind is about as secretive as the color of the leaves._"

"Or like the changing seasons," Tiny added its opinion.

"_Or like the cycle of day and night,_" Wanderer said while twirling its round fingers around in a circle, so as to symbolize the eternal cycle of day and night with hand gestures.

Sceptile was beginning to think that all of this was because of some external reason. "Is all of this because I'm green, or because I have scales and not fur?"

Both Lucario and Wanderer shook their heads against Sceptile's claim, but Tiny didn't.

"Is this all because I'm green?" Sceptile continued, still believing his friends to be secretly racist.

"Only if you want it to be," Tiny covered its mouth after saying that and tried its very best _not_ to laugh.

"…" Sceptile wasn't fully sure _what_ to feel. It didn't know if it should feel pissed off, or depressed. But before it could decide…

"_Can we just focus on what's more important?_" Lucario said, resisting its current pain. "_I'm injured and in desperate need of all of your useful medical aid._"

"Oh right!" Tiny forgot, as did everybody else. "No more time to waste here now."

All four of them went over to Lucario's room and since Wanderer was the last one to leave the kitchen, it had to collect all of the medical supplies, being careful with the medicine so as not to spill it. They were placed on one of the tables that Lucario had in his room.

Once all of them were there, Sceptile obtained one of the two fresh tree branches that Wanderer had collected and snapped one of them to arm bone length pieces and pressed them onto Lucario's right arm, one between the elbow and shoulder, and one between the shoulder and the wrist.

Tiny did the same action with the branches but placed them on Lucario's tail, one piece at the very end of his tail, right between the tip and the area where the vertebrae bends, and the other between the tail base and the location where the vertebrae bends.

With that done, all that was left was to place the bandages. Since Wanderer was the only aid left with two empty paws, it was the only one that can do that task at hand.

However, just because it has two paws holding nothing but breathable air _doesn't_ fully conclude that it would need to use them.

"_Sceptile,_" Wanderer began. "_Do you still remember the time where we traveled together for only a few days?_"

"Uh-huh," It responded with an absence of thought as to where this was going.

"_So, do you remember then…about a specific 'ability' of mine…that was demanding of massive mental concentration?_" It continued before extending out its right paw and activating its Aura Vision abilities.

"("Massive mental concentration"…?)" Sceptile thought, getting a mild hint of déjà vu.

Lucario couldn't help but say "_Where exactly is this leading to?_" in a curious, low tone.

Tiny couldn't help but think the same, but remained silent and listened attentively.

"…Are you saying that you've mastered your psychic abilities?" Sceptile remembered.

"…?" Lucario was a novice to the whole "Psychic" topic. He didn't fully understand any of this, and yet didn't choose to read Wanderer's mind to understand.

"_Well…I haven't mastered psychic abilities in general…,"_ Wanderer admitted. _"…albeit I've grown proficient in my _telekinetic_ abilities._" It said while beginning to glow a purple-colored aura, mostly concentrated onto its paws.

With little time going by, Wanderer telekinetically commanded the bandages to float into the air, and then stretch out in mid-air. Next, they were commanded non-physically to quickly wrap around Lucario's upper right arm, securing the tree branch in place.

"_Lucario, can you cut the bandage so I can resume with your lower right arm?_" Wanderer inquired with the bandage floating around in front of him.

Lucario looked at the bandages close by and calmly said "_yeah, sure_" while lifting his left arm and scraping his paw-spike in them to cut them off.

Wanderer immediately sealed the placed bandages and resumed by rolling more of the bandages around Lucario's lower left arm, sealing the tree branch placed there in place. Lucario knew when to cut them off when they were placed in front of him, without Wanderer having to ask again.

After a second severing, Wanderer quickly wrapped the remaining roll of bandages around Lucario's tail, not needing to cut them to cope with the bent tail. All Wanderer did to compensate was twist the roll of bandages once around itself and then roll around the tail's end.

Sceptile and Tiny were free to step back now, and a good thing that they did.

Wanderer telekinetically obtained the second of a few dozen rolls of bandages and had it wreath _every _area of Lucario's body, since he did endure burns across his body. Within seconds, both legs were concealed with bandages. In a couple more seconds, the bandages had migrated up from his thighs to his back and torso, leaving his chest-spike exposed. In a few more seconds, they had reached his neck. In a few _more_ seconds, they had fully concealed his face, all the way up to his ear's tips, only exposing his eyes, mouth, and dreadlock-like appendages. Finally, the remaining quantity of bandages on the roll was wreathed around Lucario's arm, bent strategically to compensate for Lucario's shoulder, elbow, and wrist.

He was now _fully_ concealed with recuperative bandages, giving him the uncanny appearance of a mummy, if grass was used for bandages instead of nylon.

"_You didn't even complain, let alone _speak_ about how the bandages were securely placed,_" Wanderer said, placing its paws down and turning off its purple energy and Aura Vision.

Lucario looked at his paws, and then the remainder of his body, only able to see about 2% of his own fur stick out between the grass bandages. "_There's no reason to complain. I'm not a fastidious and obnoxious Pokémon._" Lucario slowly sat down on his bed, appreciating the strength of the bandages, despite the choice of materials used. "_I know that you three wanted to help me with my recovery. I greatly appreciate it._"

"You're welcome," Tiny happily said, since it was the one who made the bandages.

Sceptile nodded, and then walked over about two feet to pick up one of the many cups of Berry medicine that it made earlier. "Here, drink this," It said, giving Lucario one cup of Berry medicine.

With the medicine in his grip, Lucario sniffed the medicine, unsure of what exactly is inside of it. "_What are its ingredients?_"

"Oran Berries for vitality recovery, Rawst Berries for burn treatment, Sitrus Berries—your favorite—for injury recovery, Lum Berries for nutrition, Pinap Berries, and Magost Berries—Tiny's favorite—for flavor." Sceptile was specific with Lucario's question.

"(Hearing 'Sitrus Berries' is enough for me,)" Lucario quickly thought before bobbing his head up and drinking the whole cup of medicine in one sudden gulp, adoring the taste to the medicine—surprising since medicine is notorious for its abhorrent taste. He shook the cup above his head, making sure he caught every last drop in his mouth before putting it back on his nearby table.

As he was smacking his lips, he was instantaneously feeling the healing effects of the medicine—and gradually feeling a little drowsy in the process, due to the mild fermentation of the Berries utilized. He grinned somewhat underneath the bandages.

"_Please sir, may I have some more?_" He said serenely.

"…" Tiny and Wanderer were a little confused at the odd abnormality of Lucario's normal disposition.

Sceptile however, _wasn't_ stunned by this. It knew that this was caused by one abnormality in the medicine. "(I must've used a _fermented_ Berry for an ingredient…)" It thought to itself briefly before answering Lucario's question. "Until tomorrow Lucario, it's only one serving per day."

"_…Okay…_" He said casually and with a stupid grin underneath the bandages.

Sceptile found this current predicament mildly surreal.

"_Say Wanderer… Can I ask you a few questions?_" Lucario said, still being aware and in control of his actions, albeit a bit buzzed in his mental state and personality.

"_…Ask away…_" It said, thrown off somewhat by Lucario's state of mind.

"_Why are you here?_" he said in a bit of a blunt tone.

Sceptile was actually about to say that very same question eventually, but was now reduced to saying "Lucario has a point. Shouldn't _you_ be up in the mountains?"

"_I…_" Wanderer had a brief flashback of the time before now and after splitting off from Sceptile—when it was still a Grovyle—, which was about six years ago. It remembered heading off into the Sinnoh region and residing around Mt. Coronet, where other Lucario, whom were used to cold climates, resided. It then remembered leaving about a month before now, when it heard the news of a planned fight going to occur in a forest in the Kanto Region. "_...I left because I heard of a fight to occur in a forest in the Kanto region,_" Wanderer said when it snapped out of its self-induced trance in the form of a flashback. "_I heard that the fight was going to be between a forest-residing Lucario and an Absol._"

"But you didn't account on seeing your old friend Grovyle now, right?" Tiny spoke before going to the kitchen briefly and retrieving a Magost Berry as a snack.

"_No, I didn't account for that, especially since my old friend has evolved._"

"But only recently," Sceptile interrupted. "I evolved only two weeks ago."

"_I see…_" Wanderer quickly comprehended that.

"_Can I say my next question?_" Lucario spoke after remaining silent.

"_What's it about this time?_" Wanderer said.

"_Am I able to learn the psychic abilities that you've mastered?_"

"_Yes…and then some,_" Wanderer replied back. "_All Lucario _and_ Riolu possess the capability to learn psychic abilities. Some have greater psychic and aura abilities than others. For example: all Lucario and Riolu are capable of viewing aura and reading the minds of others, albeit some of them are capable of learning and mastering more._"

"Like what?" Tiny said, with a Magost Berry stuffed in its mouth.

"_Some can gain telekinetic abilities, others can hypnotize, wipe out memories, warp time, teleport, levitate_…"

"_Is there anything else?_" Lucario was quite curious at what he—as a species—can learn, and felt as if there was more that Wanderer can say about the topic.

"_Uh…_" Wanderer looked at the tree house ceiling, trying to mentally recall an important ability that a Lucario can use.

"_You know little about that, don't you?_" Lucario squint his piercing red eyes at the light-furred Aura Pokémon, as if he was suspecting something.

"_I know enough to explain what I discerned._"

"_Explain please,_" Lucario said.

"_…There's a myth inscribed on one of Spear Pillar's…pillars._" Wanderer remembered only a fraction of this. "_It prophesizes a Pokémon, _any_ Pokémon excluding Arceus, that defies normal Pokémon laws. I only wish I knew more, since I never finished deciphering the unusual pillar's Unown's language._"

"…" Sceptile and Tiny were a bit disappointed when they heard next to nothing about a prophecy inscribed on one of Spear Pillar's pillars.

"(*hic*)" Lucario only wished that he knew more.

"_To save you some time, the last three questions that you're currently pondering about, relating to my age, origin, and the battle with a Legendary Pokémon,_" Wanderer read Lucario's mind briefly. "_I'll answer immediately._"

All three Pokémon listened attentively.

"_I'm approximately fourteen years of age…_" Wanderer answered one of Lucario's remaining questions.

"(So Wanderer's fourteen, the Absol I felled in battle was ten, Sceptile and Tiny are around eight…, and I'm only two and a half?)" Lucario was simultaneously content and confused of its current age.

"_…I was born an orphan in a mountain range around the Snowpoint Mountains in the Sinnoh region. I traveled frequently before choosing to reside on Mt. Coronet, where I resided approximately a few weeks ago..._"

"(For the same reason that I did when I was traveling…)" Sceptile thought, "(…all for seeing and memorizing new experiences, just for the hell of it.)"

"_…and finally, I battled with a Legendary Pokémon when I was only five years old…_" Wanderer grinned a bit, remembering this specific event so fluently that it could prattle on about it, never missing a key detail. "_…The Legendary Pokémon, Ho-oh._"

"…!" All three Pokémon grew wide in their eyes the instant they heard about Wanderer fighting Ho-oh. They knew well enough what it looked like, despite never seeing it with their own eyes, from commotion among the forest residents. It was the most Phoenix-like of all Pokémon, one that commonly roams the Johto region.

"_I remember seeing it soar above the blue sky a few hundred feet above a wide grass field in the Johto region that I was traveling across, and I was feeling bored to _death_ when traveling on my own, about three years before joining up with Sceptile, when it was still a Grovyle._"

Wanderer noticed Sceptile react positively to its reference to it.

"_I felt boredom to the point of requesting a fight with a Legendary Pokémon, despite my poor type matchup to it._"

"How'd you get its attention?" Tiny wondered, easily comprehending the fact that Ho-oh was about a few hundred feet above Wanderer.

"_The only way I was able to on ground: I launched an AURA SPHERE towards it,_" Wanderer's mind _wandered_ off into a flashback.

* * *

><p>(Wanderer's Flashback)<p>

Location: Johto Region (Secluded Grass Field)

_Nine years ago…_

Wanderer strolled across this massive field, green grass as far as the eye can possibly see—and even _farther_ if Aura Vision is utilized. A significant gale traveled across this green landscape, driving each and every of the _billions_ of blades of grass to dance happily in the wind.

"I remember all too well the scenery of that specific field…" _Wanderer spoke within the flashback._

Wanderer stopped one time and scanned the whole lush green scenery. In its core, it was beginning to mentally fracture.

"It was too simple! I couldn't see an end to it!" _Wanderer's right eye's lower eyelid twitched upward when it remembered the sight that chipped away at its sanity._

_Sceptile, Tiny, and Lucario were feeling mildly uncomfortable with Wanderer's reaction to its past memory._

"I swear to Arceus, I was going to do _something_ brash if I'd walk another mile and see further green!" _The upper half of the fur on Wanderer's body began to stand on end, an obvious sign that remembering this particular event proved hateful to it._

"_…Like…what specifically…" Sceptile noticeably hesitated to ask, fearing an explosive attack of Wanderer's primal rage._

"_Suicide_ was on my list," _Wanderer's fur began to sink back to its original shape, and then it raised a closed right paw and pulled out one thick finger._ "Along with mentally breaking down," _a second stubby finger grew from Wanderer's right paw,_ "and reluctantly stabbing my own two eyes with my paw-spikes," _Wanderer's third finger emerged from behind its right paw, and then the whole right paw closed, did an about-face and Wanderer faked the action of stabbing its own eyes with its paw-spike, _"just so I could see something different, or not see at all."

Wanderer—in the flashback—tried to attempt the third action mentioned, but was feeling massive doubt in doing so, as well as questioning the purpose of the action.

"(_All of that self-inducement possibility…because of a little stress and/or boredom?_)" _Sceptile thought, dubious at such stupidity._

"Watch what you think around me!" _Wanderer's teeth were significantly exposed, as well as its fists clenched, when it snarled telepathically at Sceptile's blunt mental remark._

_ Sceptile swallowed nervously and stepped back when it realized that Wanderer was discreetly reading its mind and warning it with a possible physical attack._

_ Tiny and Lucario weren't paying attention to what was physically going on in front of them._

Wanderer—in the flashback—grew bored with the action it was doing and sat down with crossed legs afterward, nearly falling asleep and tilting over to the point on falling on its snout—since the flashback's source wasn't recalling anything.

_"_Anyway…_" Wanderer continued with the flashback's plot—getting its flashback-self to stand up, subservient and alert. _"…I saw the Legendary Pokémon Ho-oh soar through the sky above me soon after."

The flashback-Wanderer looked above its field of view and saw Ho-oh fly about 300 feet above its head.

"It was then that I realized that I had to conquer my boredom with the _only_ method that I could mentally manufacture," _Wanderer grinned eerily, remembering clearly the following actions._ "And that was to challenge the Rainbow Pokémon to a martial duel."

Flashback-Wanderer placed its right foot back, formed a stalwart stance where both of its paws were placed to its right side, with their palms aimed at each other and only apart by about one foot, while still keeping its eyes locked at the roaming Ho-oh.

"One AURA SPHERE _purposely_ aimed to Ho-oh's intended path would be enough to get its attention," _Wanderer continued, having its listeners listen closely, obviously interested in what they believe will occur._

Flashback-Wanderer immediately generated a spherical typhoon of aura energy between its palms, about as large as a bowling ball. And then, it fired the AURA SPHERE at a targeted trajectory that was purposely _ahead_ of Ho-oh's flight path.

The aura attack flew past Ho-oh while it was in mid-flight and flew off a good distance _further_ before fading away in the air. Ho-oh was immediately startled and stopped flying forward, wondering where the attack came from. Since it paid enough attention to the direction of the AURA SPHERE fired at it, it accurately measured the attack's source and did an about-face, instantly seeing an oddly-colored Lucario on the grass field below it.

And even if it didn't pay attention to the AURA SPHERE's trajectory, Ho-oh could simply see Wanderer, a light-furred Pokémon that stands out from the green grass.

Flashback-Wanderer immediately grinned abnormally when Ho-oh saw it, almost as though it was eager for battle. Its Aura Vision ability immediately activated a short time after.

"I was overflowing with excitement when I noticed Ho-oh's ire that I couldn't help but…chuckle over it." _Wanderer said, knowing well enough that its mood changes when it fights an opponent._

The Wanderer in its flashback was snickering excitedly when it noticed Ho-oh's scowl.

"_So what happened next?_" _Tiny was curious._

_Wanderer's odd grin came back, and it happily said this:_

"I _ran_ forward, and Ho-oh quickly gave chase."

The flashback-Wanderer did what was expected and Ho-oh did the same.

With arms positioned behind its back for maximum drag reduction and a head and back tilted lower than when it's standing upright, it _glided_ across the massive grass field with long leg strides, easily exceeding _100 mph_ in the process. It smirked somewhat while speeding along the grassy field, boredom completely drained from its mind.

Ho-oh gave chase, diving down low onto the ground, about four feet above the earthbound grass, and matched Wanderer's speed with little effort.

"I knew Ho-oh was pissed off…" _Wanderer made them realize this fact_.

The flashback-Wanderer sensed the aura around Ho-oh, as well as its anger, all without looking back since it is currently using Aura Vision. It didn't show signs of worry as the Rainbow Pokémon followed.

"…and yet I didn't do a damn thing about it. I wanted this battle to last until I was finally able to see something other than the grass I was running on back then."

"(_I can't believe all of that was just to escape from boredom…_)" _Lucario thought._

Ho-oh suddenly began to glow in a white light that coated its entire feathered body, increasing its currently matched speed of 100 mph to 150 mph in only two seconds.

"And in doing so, I became a target of its stalwart attacks." _Wanderer didn't shudder or even cringe negatively when saying so._

"Was that a good or bad thing for you?" _Lucario inquired, seeming to have the fermented medicine's effects wear away from his body._

"It was a good thing, it would be more entertaining if Ho-oh did attack me than just chase me," Wanderer spoke in an acquiesced tone.

Ho-oh, now flying at about 150 mph and emanating a white light, used SKY ATTACK in an attempt to ram into Wanderer beak-first, but Wanderer expertly evaded the attack by sidestepping and jumping into the air and, with a mid-air cartwheel, stepped aside and continued to run forward to see the Rainbow Pokémon's reaction.

"I remember its move set that it used on me." _Wanderer continued, still having the attention of those inside the room_. "Firstly, it utilized SKY ATTACK and missed me narrowly."

Ho-oh, realizing that its attack was unsuccessful, dispelled its current white light and was feeling a bit of abhorrence toward the light-furred Lucario. With fiery rage, it performed a U-turn by rising up into the air and concluding by finding itself in the same position that it was in before SKY ATTACK was used. It flapped its multi-colored wings menacingly, remaining in hot pursuit of Wanderer.

_"What did it use next?" Sceptile questioned, curious to Ho-oh's move set gamut._

"…FIRE BLAST…"

For its second attack, it antagonistically regarded a Lucario's weakness to fire and began to have fire spewing spontaneously from its mouth.

The flashback-Wanderer realized it was a Fire-Type attack, but didn't seem to feel abject about that fact that was pursuing it from behind. In fact, it smirked in a nonchalant manner.

"…Thankfully, I had a powerful defense against such an attack of a high caliber," _Wanderer assured them, in case they were feeling a sense of concern._

Ho-oh cocked its head back and then fired a massive star-shaped fireball toward the flashback-Wanderer, feeling strong animosity to its newfound opponent.

The flashback-Wanderer leapt about six feet into the air purposely, and then did an about face in mid-air. Quickly, it tucked in its body and suddenly conjured a blue-colored, spherical, transparent _force-field_ and had the FIRE BLAST attack strike it. The attack was deflected upon impact, leaving the Aura Pokémon unmarred, and rolling along the ground within the round bulwark.

"I found it more useful to me to learn PROTECT instead of DETECT, since PROTECT _fortifies_ against stalwart attacks, while DETECT _evades_ stalwart attacks, and evasion does have its limits, depending on the terrain." _Wanderer gave its opinion on defensive tactics._

"So true…" _Lucario nodded in agreement._

_Sceptile and Tiny were a little more doubtful. They both couldn't decide what was a more superior defensive tactic, evasion or fortification, and pondered to themselves about that topic._

The flashback-Wanderer's bulwark faded away and it regained its footing on the grassy floor, continuing to run from Ho-oh exactly as it did before its first attack. The Rainbow Pokémon closely followed nearby, mentally confirming the decision of using its most devastating attack.

"After adroitly evading and protecting against two of its attacks, I was sensing great animosity from Ho-oh," _Wanderer felt, deep down, that it was doing a magnificent job remembering what occurred during that day._ "I knew it was going to launch its trademark attack next, since I was utilizing Aura Vision to read its mind."

_"That attack wouldn't happen to be…SACRED FIRE, right?" Tiny guessed._

"How did you know?" _Wanderer was surprised at Tiny knowing the name of the attack._

_"I've heard some of the Pokémon in this forest reference that specific attack." Tiny admitted._

"I see…" _Wanderer trailed off mildly._

_Both Sceptile and Lucario comprehended that bit of information._

"Anyway…" _Wanderer came back to its flashback, leaving off with its flashback counterpart running across the grassy field, along with a pissed-off Ho-oh following behind it._

The flashback-Wanderer sensed a powerful aura surge within Ho-oh. It had a gut reaction that a powerful attack was on its way soon.

"I knew a blow from its SACRED FIRE attack would literally _burn_ me to ashes, or make me realize how emotionally-excruciating Hell is." _Wanderer shivered, not liking the thought of experiencing anything linked to Hell._

"I've been there and done that when Absol used FLARE BLITZ on me earlier today," _Lucario interrupted._ "Fire is a challenge for me to endure, despite a mental resistance that I try to create against it."

_"It's all because of your newly-acquired Steel-type attribute, right?" Sceptile said to Lucario._

_Lucario simply nodded with a grim countenance._

"Now isn't _that_ a bitch to Steel-type Pokémon everywhere…"_ Wanderer trailed off once more before realigning himself and resuming with the flashback._ "So… Knowing that SACRED FIRE was coming, I was giving Ho-oh a façade that I was physically incapable of countering against it, when I was _truly_ pondering my next action."

The flashback-Wanderer just continued to simultaneously façade and run, and Ho-oh continued to charge up its firepower. Ho-oh assumed nothing, because Wanderer mentally-confirmed its next evasion.

"I should count myself fortunate that I wasn't facing off against _Lugia_ instead of Ho-oh, since Lugia is a Psychic-Type, and therefore more adept at psychic abilities," _Wanderer telepathically said, fortunate for its luck_.

Ho-oh's eyes emanated red light—in conjunction to its already blood-red eyes—briefly and then its whole seven-color-feathered body burst into flames, as if it were a mythological phoenix. Soon after, seven perfectly-spherical orbs of fire began to emerge into a ring around Wanderer. These orbs of fire symbolized the seven main colors of the rainbow—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet—, and gave a mild feeling of foreshadowing to the flashback-Wanderer.

"However, they were both just as menacing…" _Wanderer admitted_.

With an ear-splitting Aerodactyl-like shriek originating from Ho-oh's throat, it commanded all seven of the orbs to suddenly detonate and surround the target in a seven-colored revolving fire pillar of about 100 feet in height. After the attack, Ho-oh's excess aura died off, done for what it was used for.

"So when Ho-oh finally launched SACRED FIRE…" _Wanderer added a bit of suspense when it said that phrase._

Ho-oh stopped moving forward and hovered in the air, about 100 feet behind the SACRED FIRE attack it launched.

"…it immediately assumed that I was caught within it and burned to death and ash."

Ho-oh mentally cackled to itself, feeling some satisfaction of killing a Pokémon that had a slim chance of defeating it.

Or so it appeared to the Legendary Pokémon…

"But in reality…" _Wanderer smirked mildly_. "…The only thing that SACRED FIRE burned was grass."

Once the SACRED FIRE dispersed, Ho-oh was shocked to see a thin and pale-white line of briefly electrically-charged air aimed straight ahead, ignoring the full circle of black-and-burned grass that the line crossed before dispersing into the air.

And its source came from the premeditated path of flashback-Wanderer's EXTREMESPEED technique, and the proof was in the field of air that was electrically-charged white around it, since it was now sprinting at a blistering _200 mph_, with its overall being moving at a blur to the normal human eye.

"I recently learned EXTREMESPEED back then," _Wanderer added to its actions_. "And I used it a split second before SACRED FIRE was used, giving the illusion that I was caught within the flames and burned to oblivion, since Ho-oh was behind me and SACRED FIRE was between us."

A vein on the back of Ho-oh's skull bulged in frustration, and then the Rainbow Pokémon fiercely resumed with pursuing the running Aura Pokémon. It was finding it briefly difficult to catch up to it, until flashback-Wanderer's EXTREMESPEED faded away a minute later, in which it caught up to it steadily soon after.

* * *

><p>(End of Flashback)<p>

Estimated Time: Night

_"Afterwards, I continued to run until I finally saw a mountain range,"_ Wanderer began to conclude. "_I stopped running altogether and did an about-face just as Ho-oh stopped as well in front of me. Despite its currently-malicious and vindictive state, I decided to apologize to it._"

"But _wait!_ There's more...! Right…?" Sceptile said with a bit of emphasis—startling some of the listeners—, having a premonition that Ho-oh wouldn't be as forgiving to Wanderer as it thought.

Wanderer nodded and then said telepathically: "_It's a naturally-_hot_headed Legendary, so I wasn't expecting a simple "apology accepted" from it._"

"What did the Legendary Hothead Pokémon Ho-oh do?" Tiny couldn't help but smile and laugh at the connection to Ho-oh's type attribute.

"_Its talons gripped my whole torso, it flew high into the air, constantly flipped backwards in mid-air to build up speed and power, and then it flung me _clear_ across the grass field and for a good 500 feet._"

"_Did you tolerate any sudden injuries upon landing?_" Lucario was curious to find out.

"_I landed in a nearby body of water, face first. I only endured a substantial nosebleed._"

Sceptile looked outside to notice how shadowed and sable the forest was now, since the sun had fallen off of the horizon. It knew that a significant amount of time had gone by since Wanderer came back in the evening, and now it felt as though it was time to get some sleep. "It's dark outside," Sceptile said straightforwardly. "We should go get some sleep."

"_Hold on Sceptile,_" Lucario interrupted just before all three of the other Pokémon could leave the room. "_I have two last questions to ask Wanderer before we go to sleep in our designated rooms._"

"I _nicknamed myself "Wanderer" because I _wander_ a lot,_" Wanderer read Lucario's mind for only a moment, and answered one of his questions. "_That much should be obvious._"

"_And are you staying in this forest _permanently?" Lucario quickly said its second question, wanting it to be heard.

Sceptile and Tiny actually became curious with this sudden question.

Before Wanderer could say the answer to that question, it said this:

"_You're an inquisitive dark-furred Lucario, aren't you?_" Wanderer said rhetorically before saying what the three current Pokémon wanted to hear. "_I've actually grown tired of the glacial conditions of Mt. Coronet, so I'll stay here._"

"Well that's good to hear," Sceptile said. "I'll take you to your new room then."

"You should know that it was Absol's room 30 months ago," Tiny informed Wanderer.

"_Was it now…_" Wanderer was interested slightly at the somewhat immaterial fact, but because Absol was now dead, that fact holds next to nothing in terms of worth.

Sceptile, Wanderer, and Tiny left Lucario's room, leaving him alone and in his bed to get some much needed rest. He grabbed the nearby blanket and concealed himself within it, finding it unusually easy to drift away to sleep. Perhaps it's because of the earlier battle with Absol that's left him drained of energy, or the wounds that he's sustained that require more physical care and rest.

Of course it could also be because of the medicine that's left his mind a bit serene and quiescent. But regardless of what it was, he fell asleep soon after.

The other three Pokémon found it not too difficult to sleep afterwards as well. They fell asleep in their individual room's beds, recalling the battle of epic proportions between Absol and Lucario with great detail to distract themselves until their minds shut down on them as they fell asleep. They didn't have anything more to say today, since the conversation that occurred earlier, involving mostly Wanderer, was finished.

The only sounds heard after Sceptile's last words of the day were the chirping of nocturnal Bug-Type Pokémon, and the nocturnal predatory Pokémon hunting them.

* * *

><p><em>13 ½ years later…<em>

Lucario's Estimated Age: 16 Years

Sceptile's Estimated Age: 21 ½ Years

Tiny's Estimated Age: 21 ½ Years

Wanderer's Estimated Age: 27 ½ Years

Despite more than a decade of time piercing by the four Pokémon, little occurred between them that would be considered life-altering. They never left the forest _permanently_, only on occasion.

Be that as it may, significant _specific_ changes were made between these four Pokémon. Besides gaining knowledge and new battle techniques, whole tasks were put into effect by each of them from within the serenity of their current home.

First up is Sceptile, the Forest Pokémon. Already being a superlative aid to the whole forest, it has taken the premeditated role of a nature medic for its green habitat. With all of the knowledge in nature and its bountiful resources that it has gained since its evolution over thirteen years ago, it was the _perfect_ choice for this role.

It has also gained a surplus of information for medication for the Pokémon who live in this forest, giving it a stable stream of Pokémon coming to it when they're sick or injured, all thankful for its advice and care. To the whole Pokémon community, it was nicknamed the "Nature Doctor", for its aptitude on simultaneously aiding Pokémon and nature. This nickname suited it better than "King of the Jungle", in its personal opinion.

To add to its achievements, it has also learned a fair amount of what Tiny has had to offer. That includes Aura Vision, mind reading, and even FORCE PALM. However, it hasn't learn AURA SPHERE, which is more of an arduous challenge that Sceptile has yet to complete.

Thankfully, it has at least learned ENERGY BALL recently, which can be considered a stalwart substitute.

Second up is Wanderer, the mountain-dwelling light-furred Aura Pokémon. It had come to the choice of staying within the serenity and positivity of this forest, where it's warmer—but it had to shave off a whole ½ inch layer of fur as compensation—and more loved by its friends, since in Mt. Coronet, most of the local Lucario wildlife there tend to be insulting, stuck-up, and prideful egomaniacs.

In other words, they were often pricks to the Pokémon surrounding them.

So because of that, it has not only adapted to loving the forest that it now lives in, but it has actually developed a goal in its life. It has assigned itself the task of protecting the forest from unwanted intruders, which were often Pokémon Trainers.

The benefits: The occasional souvenirs, such as a dropped Poké Ball or held item from a Pokémon Trainer, a sense of justice and compassion for the forest's residents—which led to more local Pokémon aiding Wanderer with his task, including Lucario, Sceptile, and Tiny—, and imperative martial experience.

The drawbacks: A habit of constant service and readiness, the unpredictability of the next event, the seldom loss of a Pokémon—when they're captured—, and the constantly fluctuating levels of danger when in action, due to fighting a Pokémon Trainer's unpredictable selection of Pokémon in their party, as well as their experience.

The third Pokémon on this list: Tiny, the Emanation Pokémon. Over thirteen years ago, during the battle between Lucario and Absol, it had its aptitude for manufacturing helpful items out of mere grass blades, leaves, and twigs—such as the backpack—exposed to the audience of that battle. So ever since then, it has been significantly occupied with creating these items, for the ease of the tough lives of the forest-dwelling residential Pokémon.

Thankfully, it has plenty of free time to help its friends whenever they're needed.

Finally: Lucario, the Aura Pokémon _enigma,_ as it is occasionally known to the forest residents. After recovering from his serious and injuries about two weeks after his battle with the Disaster Pokémon, he has done his best to train and grow stronger, so as to reduce the possibility of that similar condition from ever occurring again in his life.

He trained with Wanderer and, to Wanderer's surprise, learned _all_ of its mental attacks—PSYCHIC—and other brand new attacks—FLASH CANNON, EXTREMESPEED, DARK PULSE, CLOSE COMBAT, etc—within _days!_

He also trained with Sceptile, who has learned a variety of new Grass-Type techniques, such as ENERGY BALL—similar to AURA SPHERE in terms of structure, but with a green energy and an electrical "core" within it—, FRENZY PLANT—calls forth massive and numerous plants from underneath the ground—, LEAF STORM—a tornado of foliage is called forth and used for a deadly attack, which grows weaker with every subsequent use of the same technique—, and GIGA DRAIN—a stronger version of MEGA DRAIN. He learned all that Sceptile had to teach him.

Stranger still, to whosoever he spent enough time with, they would all bypass and overtake the unusual four-attack limit, much to their surprise, as well as benefit. To add to that, Lucario continued to learn moves that defied his species' limitations, such as EMBER, WATER GUN, GUST, THUNDER SHOCK, POWDER SNOW, etc.

Also, the oddity of nightmares that occur within his subconscious hasn't reared itself after his battle with Absol, and never again ever since then, as if they died off. But they never did die off within his thoughts, since he still believes that it may be foreshadowing something life-changing, after occurring for so long.

Soon after, he used his growing oddity of learning an unorthodox assortment of techniques for the benefit of the entire forest residents. To them all, he became a helpful and universal move tutor. He vividly explained how to use the variety of attacks that he knew to them, and succeeded with enough patience and time, something that he seemed to have plenty of.

He was quite happy with helping the Pokémon who desire his teachings.

To put it concisely, Lucario had already learned how to do these specific abilities before his battle with Absol: Telepathy, Aura Vision, manipulating his body mass, manipulating knockback, guarding and attacking with aura's aid, walking on water, aura assimilation, FORCE PALM, mind reading, sensing emotions, anticipating actions, and climbing walls and ceilings with his aura.

All of this goes with his trademark AURA SPHERE, as well as the unexpected techniques utilized from other Pokémon, such as the arsenal of Grass-Type techniques and jungle combat skills that Sceptile knew.

But now he had learned so much more, such as Wanderer's wide inventory of powerful Lucario-capable moves and telekinetic-based attacks, Sceptile's evolved attack repertoire, unorthodox and widely-spread set of attacks learned from residing forest Pokémon, and the ability to _shatter_ the four-attack limit on himself and those around him—but only for those that he's spent enough time with.

So that's what occurred within the 13 ½ year gap between then and now, more or less. But now it's time to focus on the _present_ and not the past, especially since the past has already been cemented, but the present and future have yet to be marked.

* * *

><p><span>Estimated Date: Early 21<span>st Century

Estimated Time: Morning

Location: Forest (Tree Tops)

The Forest's Tree Tops, an area of which the entire surface of the forest can be viewed effortlessly, which isn't surprising since the trees are a few hundred feet tall on average, easily the tallest level on this forest.

Lucario was currently on top of one of the taller tree's branches, somewhat enjoying the massive view of the forest's healthy green foliage. Albeit, this was only for about a minute, since he was truly focusing aura to what he plans to do next.

He was about to attempt to FLY, for the umpteenth time since he began about a year ago. However, since he doesn't possess wings or a telekinetic power strong enough to utilize on _himself_—since he only _recently_ learned telekinetic abilities—, he's had to improvise to even _hope_ to have a chance at flight.

His tactic: use FORCE PALM _continuously_ and with _both_ paws. However, this is easier said than done, since FORCE PALM was never meant to be used continuously. It is however, useable with both paws, much to Lucario's hopes.

The Aura Pokémon looked away at the forest and stared into his own two paws for a brief moment, relying on them for perfecting this unorthodox technique. After that, without giving a second thought at this next attempt, he immediately jumped off with significant height before tilting his body to have his head aim down and nose first, so as to give himself better aerodynamics.

"(It's now or never…)" He thought before immediately conjuring two smaller orbs of bright blue aura within his palms, and then causing them to expel their energy _constantly_ and not briefly, supplying more aura when needed to, which was fairly often.

Just before diving down to precarious and irreversible levels, he quickly bent his upper body upward and, thanks to aerodynamics—as well as the already-learned ability of manipulating his overall weight—, he jerked upward and above the forest.

Astonishingly, he was now _flying_ via aura propulsion at a stable rate of about highway speeds. But unlike most Pokémon introduced to new abilities, he kept his nonchalance, since suddenly getting overconfident can backfire severely to the point of having life or death be decided in a heartbeat.

"(Incredible…)" He thought concisely as he was now gliding a few hundred feet above the tallest trees of the forest with relative ease, loving this new view of a nostalgic forest, with the wind bypassing each and every strand of hair on his body, and leaving an indescribable gale sound into his ears.

However, that sound was a bit of an annoyance and giving him a bit of an earache as well, so he bent his ears back as much as he physically could, preventing any air from entering his ear canals and pounding away at his eardrums.

He also had to narrow his eyes mildly, since the gale created by his acrobatics was assimilating the moisture of his sanguine eyeballs and leaving them _more_ sanguine and irritated as time goes by. Thankfully, the whole vision problem is easily spared with the Aura Vision ability that he possesses in his arsenal. Within seconds, he closed his eyes completely and used Aura Vision to see what was around him.

While flying for about a couple of minutes straight, he realized that using FORCE PALM consistently was a bit of a strain to his overall aura inventory, but he had enough aura to utilize howbeit. Ignoring that fact briefly, he noticed some of the local residents looking at him while he was flying, appearing to be in disbelief as they saw this well-known mystery of an Aura Pokémon in mid-air.

Comically, he also saw his home when he passed by it.

After another minute of steady flying at highway speed, he realized that he was beginning to struggle to maintain airborne, since he was still a neophyte with being able to FLY. The FORCE PALMs of his were fluctuating in and out of use, no matter how much of his aura was being pumped into it. Luckily, he was getting close to a nearby tree, so he could use that as a landing spot.

He quickly tilted himself until he was perfectly vertical in mid-air, and then aimed his paws toward the tree's top, so as to retard himself with aura propulsion, with whatever control he had left. He quickly grabbed onto the tree's top with all four limbs and wrapped himself on it, so as to prevent a frightening fall back down to earth—something that he actually has some experience with.

He felt his heart sink when the tree's top swayed ominously back and forth, but he was able to retain his serenity amidst it. Once the tree's swaying motion subsided, he breathed a few sighs of relief, swearing he was succumbing to mild altophobia for a moment, but not enough to cause permanent results and irrelevant symptoms. He turned off his Aura Vision ability, since it was currently unneeded, and then began to assimilate some of the aura around him from the air by quickly glowing green and using GIGA DRAIN.

Once the aura that he used for flight was replaced and assimilated within him, as well as his slightly-reduced stamina, he put his feet on one of the branches below him, let go of the tree's top once he had secure footing, and strangely desired to FLY again, so as to develop more flight endurance by trying to extend the time of using FORCE PALM consistently, flight experience, and flight speed. He was also thinking of adding more to flying, such as using EXTREMESPEED to boost speed and lift, reducing the use of FORCE PALM.

Albeit, just before he was about to jump, his ears twitched mildly when he aurally sensed the most unusual of sounds. He heard a sound that was genuinely alien to him, the whirring of a helicopter's propellers. When he concentrated further into this sound, he was able to identify two important qualities.

Quality #1: He heard the whirring of helicopter propellers coming from behind him, coming from where he flew to get to where he currently was at now. And quality #2: There were precisely _eight_ of them, but split off into two groups of four.

"(What the hell is this alien sound?)" He stared on into one random tree in front of him, not needing his eyes currently, and twitched his ears somewhat randomly to listen to the sound and attempt to juxtapose it to whatever he had already aurally identified, curious as to what its identity is.

In only seconds, he realized that this wasn't a sound by means of using his sense of hearing to identify with alone. He had to _see_ it instead.

He cautiously performed an about-face, so as to not slip on the tree branch he had his feet on, and with his eyes, noticed a set of four miniscule objects in the sky that were gradually growing in size due to approaching Lucario's location. Lucario was now more curious than before as to what specifically was approaching.

In a premeditative manner, he extended his left paw out from his body, with his palm aimed at the far off oddity as best as he could, since the large distance proved tough to accurately pinpoint at, and clamped the tree's trunk with his right paw, to prevent a sudden fall.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused himself for Aura Vision once more. The only difference this time was that he used his left paw as if it were a TV antenna and received better results by doing so.

Instead of seeing with Aura Vision what was directly in _front_ of him, he was able to see much farther off and pinpoint to what his left paw was aimed at. When he caught a better glimpse at the distant group of four objects once he aligned his left arm perfectly to it, he was in for a shock, but for different reasons than a group of helicopters flying around here.

"(Those metal vessels…)" he thought, having absolutely no clue as to what they were named since he had never seen them before, "(There are humans…within them?)"

Lucario was sure that humans were only here to do something that would be harmful of malicious to the forest's fragile ecosystem. He could sense it in the distinct colors emanating from their auras. From them, he was receiving some different aura colors, such as orange aura—for a determined personality—, lavender aura—for goal-related thoughts and how they should be accomplished—, and brown aura—for materialism. All of these colors represented terrible foreshadowing that could alter the normality of this forest, and he knew that from the negative intuition he was receiving.

And the fact that the second group of helicopters was arriving behind them, as well as the first group of helicopters descending down onto the forest floor in an area suitable for landing was only confirming this foreshadowing and proving Lucario's premonition right.

"(They and their premeditated malice shouldn't be allowed here!)" He thought quickly before jumping athletically across the tree tops, somersaulting and flipping in mid-air when needed to. "(They need to be removed promptly!)"

* * *

><p><span>Location: Forest (Base Level)<span>

The sentry Pokémon of the forest, which included Wanderer and about two dozen of well-trained assistants, had their gaze locked onto the ominously-descending _second_ group of four helicopters, while the first group of helicopters hovered right past them. They all had surrounded the intended landing zone of this particular group of helicopters, raised their guard, and waited patiently for the group of people that were premeditated to touch down onto the soil floor.

Wanderer turned on its Aura Vision ability and saw the same three colors of aura that Lucario did—orange, lavender, and brown—, immediately realizing what emotional attributes they were supposed to symbolize.

"_There are definitely humans inside those metal vessels,_" Wanderer forewarned the two dozen Pokémon around it before igniting both of its paws in aura as a preparation for the oncoming battle. "_I can sense them._"

The two dozen Pokémon alongside Wanderer acknowledged its words and were made just as prepared as it was.

Seconds went by until the four helicopters slowly began to descend onto the crude and squalid floor of the forest, uprising mild clouds of loose dirt and shedding the leaves off of the surrounding trees before finally touching down on the floor below them, with very little sound being heard upon landing…other than the rotary blades loudly chopping up the air.

The deafening whirring emanating from its propellers was bearable to the Pokémon close by and around it, and grew less so when those same propellers slowly began to lower in intensity, until they finally grew silent altogether.

To the aurally-proficient Pokémon—Wanderer included—, they hear the antagonistic humans _themselves_ shuffling within the four helicopters, preparing to leave and attack with what they have armed in their arsenal.

"(About time…)" Wanderer thought with an eerie grin, visualizing the humans about to leave from their metallic fortification. It cracked its knuckles briefly, just itching to fight them and tear them apart in the most gruesome manner possible.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Forest (Floor)<span>

Utilizing the unbelievable jungle combat skills that he learned from Sceptile, as well as the EXTREMESPEED technique that he learned from Wanderer, Lucario zigzagged from tree branch to tree branch with phenomenal speed, approximately _150_ mph. It had to travel at this speed in order to swiftly get to where the groups of descending helicopters were, according to what it saw with its active Aura Vision ability.

"(The second group of humans inside those airborne metal vessels descended onto an open field of this forest,)" he thought to himself when scanning the far off area, seeing the whole group of sentry Pokémon, noticing Wanderer amongst them, and simultaneously sprinting across the forest.

However, he was actually more concerned with the tactics that the _first_ group of helicopters was planning.

"(What are these humans planning?)" He saw the second group continue onward above the forest, and he continued to observe them as he moved on to where Wanderer was.

After covering a few miles in about two minutes, he stopped abruptly and dropped down to the forest floor, feeling himself become physically uneasy as to what he saw the first group of helicopters hover over motionlessly.

They ominously hovered above Sceptile's tree house.

To add to that, both Sceptile and Tiny were currently _residing_ within it, a fact made crystal clear by Lucario's Aura Vision ability.

"_…No…_" He said fearfully, reluctantly imagining what might occur to them. However, he stopped doing so when he imagined them being captured…or _dying_ when trying to escape, so as to not begin to doubt himself about failing to change the outcome.

He used EXTREMESPEED once more to reach the tree house, leaving behind a white streak of electrically-charged air in his wake, hoping he wasn't too late to do something—_anything_—to protect them.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Forest (Sceptile's House)<span>

Unsuspecting to either Sceptile or Tiny, the first group of 4 helicopters floated portentously above their home, spread apart from each other like the individual sides of a square. Their loud whirring bellowed across the air nearby their location, which was oddly ignored by either Pokémon.

Seconds after, the left and right side doors of all four helicopters opened and from them each came out eight ladders total—two for each helicopter—that fully reached out downward and touched the forest floor. Just as quickly, four people from each helicopter began to come down from their respective helicopters and quickly climbed down the ladders, two people for each ladder.

They synchronically jumped off of the ladders and onto the forest floor when they were six feet off of the ground. They immediately surrounded the tree house afterward, not seeming to care at all if a Pokémon or a person built the tree house in front of all of them, since the structure of the house seemed to be a hybrid of both.

The people that surrounded the tree house wore a long-sleeved shadow-colored uniform, with the men of the group wearing khakis that were tucked into their silver boots and the women of the group wearing a skirt that stopped perfectly between their waistline and knees, with those same-colored boots going up _above_ their knees. They wore silver-colored gloves that had the uniform's sleeves hiding inside of them, and they wore somewhat round shadow-colored berets and a silver utility belt. Finally, on their uniforms, they had a bright red "R" in the center, placed directly where their sternum would be.

These people worked under a malicious criminal organization in Kanto that is infamously known as Team Rocket. As of now, their current mission is simple: capture as many Pokémon as possible…and _kill_ those that don't submit.

They all reached to the back of their silver-colored utility belt and pulled out a compacted spherical capsule. This device had a red top hemisphere, a white lower hemisphere, a black band separating both hemispheres across the side and a white button in the center. The device is known as a Poké Ball.

Each Grunt pressed the button in the center of the devices, having the devices grow from the size of a ping-pong ball to that of a baseball. One after the other, they all threw their Poké Balls up into the air expertly, each orb spin in mid-air as they hovered upward about thirty feet.

Once high enough, they all shot out light from their black borders briefly, and then they all burst open and released a concentrated red light energy that descended onto the floor below. The Team Rocket Grunts caught their respective Poké Ball once they were pulled down by the Earth's gravity and replaced them where they belong, at the back of their silver utility belts.

In one second, the red light energy condensed and dispersed, exposing Fire-Type Pokémon immediately where the red light energy landed. There were exactly four Growlithe, four Magmar, four Houndoom, two Arcanine, and two Magmortar, all with aggression and hate scarred onto the surface of their hearts and their faces.

In tandem, each and every of the Team Rocket Grunts pointed their right paw's first finger at the intended target: the tree house.

Without the Grunts knowing, Tiny peered out of one of the windows, immediately assimilated the visual information of its surroundings, and ran over to Sceptile, all in about the time span of five seconds.

With a smirk coming from some of the Grunts—as well as their menacing Pokémon—they snapped their right hand's fingers. Just as quickly, all sixteen Fire-Type Pokémon launched a specific Fire-Type attack simultaneously from their mouths. The Growlithe used FIRE SPIN, the Magmar used LAVA PLUME, the Houndoom used FLAMETHROWER, the Arcanine used FIRE BLAST, and the Magmortar used OVERHEAT.

All of the Fire-Type attacks hit their mark in only one second, quickly roasting the tree house where it stands, all while the attacks are fired again in tandem—FIRE BLAST, LAVA PLUME, AND OVERHEAT—or kept constant—FIRE SPIN and FLAMETHROWER. This continued on for as long as the Pokémon could muster, which gradually reduced the chances of whatever resided within the tree house to _nearly_ absolute zero.

"(…Oh shit…)" Lucario thought as he was within seconds of reaching Sceptile's tree house, dubious of what he was seeing ahead.

Once there, he immediately dove down and slid behind a nearby shrub. He crouched down and faced the back of it, so as not to expose his cover if he stood behind and observed the crime zone. He maintained a standby posture in case events took a turn for the worst, something that he feels might just happen. The fur on his body that made contact with the soil was scraped off swiftly with his arm, so as to not make any minute sounds that would compromise his position to either the Grunts or their Pokémon. He could still see despite being behind a shrub, due to his constant use of Aura Vision.

It was a sagacious choice to veil his physical being behind a shrub, since one of the closest Team Rocket Grunts heard the sound of dirt being shifted. That one Grunt alone did an about-face, and then he scanned the area, including the shrub that Lucario resided behind, and didn't notice anything there. He turned back to the fire and realized that he could've sworn that the shrub he discerned had something on _top_ of it.

"(Crap… He suspects something…)," Lucario thought, feeling his heart sink a bit within his ribcage.

Just as the Grunt executed a slightly lagged double-take, Lucario quickly swiveled his pointed ears behind him and sagged his head a bit lower. The Grunt saw that same bush and could've sworn that the bush had something on top of it, but figured that it was merely a figment of his imagination.

"Weird…" He muttered to himself as he reset himself to the state that he was at after snapping his fingers.

"(These ears of mind will be the death of me if I don't properly take them into account,)" Lucario thought to himself while wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead unhurriedly, so as to not make even the slightest of sounds again.

Ten more seconds went by until the Fire-Type Pokémon became exhausted from using their attacks. They stopped using their Fire-Type attacks and hyperventilated a bit, recharging themselves slowly. During that time, the wood of the tree house was relinquished into the air in the form of smoke, as well as the fire alongside the wood. Lucario was able to bypass the aura energy emanating from the fire and see traces of what occurred to Sceptile and Tiny.

In a way, he was and was _not_ surprised by what he saw within the fire. He breathed an abated sigh of relief, _not_ surprised when he noticed that both Sceptile and Tiny were still alive and _unmarred_—since they would be dying like punks if they perished on the spot. He saw that Tiny had formed a defensive stance and used PROTECT with Sceptile inside it as well.

What Lucario was surprised about is that it has been _minutes_ since the Fire-Type attacks were launched. Tiny should've had its entire stamina siphoned away by the double-edged sword—or _shield_—that was PROTECT, but it didn't.

It's likely because that PROTECT technique was what separated life and a superheated death for them both. Tiny knew that when it first noticed the malicious Fire-Type Pokémon subordinates receive their orders by the Team Rocket Grunts.

However, there was a price to maintaining such a potent bulwark for minutes against deadly conflagrations, and Lucario was able to see what that was.

"(My Arceus, Tiny…)" Lucario noticed that Tiny's overall aura field was being reduced to critically low levels that could perchance prove irreversible to it.

He was easily becoming heavily and selflessly concerned, as well as simultaneously astounded by Tiny's stamina, for the Emanation Pokémon's life was now in jeopardy. He knew that Sceptile could survive due to the dying conflagrations simply by leaping away _with_ Tiny when Tiny's PROTECT technique fades away, something which he thought could possibly occur. But Tiny's case was more serious and can possibly become irreversible as the seconds pass by.

Unfortunately, just as Lucario assumed, Tiny's PROTECT was fading away due to massive fatigue from keeping it active for so long. It eventually faded away altogether, leaving Tiny barely able to stand up properly, let alone remain conscious.

And due to the fire burning away at what remained of tree house, they both were now exposed to the Team Rocket Grunts. And all of those Grunts were astounded with what they saw.

"They're still alive?" One random Grunt rhetorically said to himself.

"Quite a stalwart set of Pokémon…" One other Grunt admired their power, but only mildly, thinking instead of the possibilities one could do with such power.

"That Riolu looks like the source of their survival…" Another Grunt hypothesized accurately.

The Grunt adjacent to her quickly plucked another Poké Ball from the back of his utility belt, and then he began to toss it in mid-air and catch it repeatedly in a serious manner. "We _capture_ that source, and make it our own." He said with pride before launching his Poké Ball with the expertise of a baseball pitcher—excluding most of the technique—grinning smugly as he saw it soar and home in towards the Riolu in front of him.

"(How rash,)" Lucario thought, finding that one Grunt who launched his Poké Ball to be considerably reckless and speculative.

"Tiny, are you feeling alright?" Sceptile asked it, feeling extremely concerned—and somewhat thankful—for Tiny after it used PROTECT heavily to save them both.

Tiny legs gave out due to massive aura relinquishment. It got down to both of its knees, having both of its front paws planted onto the sooty floor below its face. It was hyperventilating heavily and appeared to be somewhat cadaverous in terms of physical state. "Sceptile…" It said weakly, its voice hardly audible amongst the crackling of the flames, "…Incoming…capture sphere…" It looked at the Poké Ball—not knowing its identity—that it was hardly able to see off of the corner of its eye, choosing to be more concerned for Sceptile than its own current health, "…to your left."

Somehow, Sceptile indirectly received the message it was given by the Emanation Pokémon that it was supposed to care more about what will occur to itself than to Tiny. Vaguely knowing this, it did notice the incoming Poké Ball and had its right arm's protruding leaf glow green and morphing into LEAF BLADE.

"I see it," It said with a low hiss in its voice, as well as a squinted look in its yellow eyes.

Just as the Poké Ball was within critical range of Tiny, Sceptile immediately retaliated. It turned its body counterclockwise, brought up its LEAF BLADE-imbued right arm with an upward swipe, and instantly sliced the capsule in two, right across its black band.

Before a reaction by the Grunts—or the Grunt that actually _threw_ the Poké Ball—could be established, Sceptile continued moving counterclockwise and used its massive tail to swat both freshly-cut halves of the Poké Ball, right back at the Grunt who originally threw it, before finishing off by forming a battle stance where its right arm was set ready.

The two halves struck the Grunt perfectly in each eye, leaving the other Grunts momentarily stunned. Only the black band marking of the Poké Ball struck each eye. The victim Grunt didn't budge an inch or change his countenance when the retaliation was made on his face.

Seconds later, the Poké Ball halves peeled off of his eyes, exposing a black bruise ring around them. Just as the Poké Ball halves hit the floor, the victim Grunt comically fell backwards with a thud, like a solitary domino, with little interference from his arms in stopping his fall.

Unusually, no one seemed to care about his current predicament, not even the Pokémon that the fallen Grunt was using at the moment.

Sceptile and Lucario couldn't help but cackle at the comical sight. Sceptile chuckled a little, but Lucario was forced to have a crooked grin and stifled snickers, since he was still hiding and wanted to remain hidden to the Grunts and their Fire-Type Pokémon.

Tiny however, it could only breathe heavily.

However, that moment quickly reversed for the worst. From out of nowhere, multiple Koffing and a few Weezing ambushed the two Pokémon standing above the ash heap that was once the tree house. Sceptile was easily caught off guard. Tiny however, was too fatigued to react. All of the Koffing and some of the Weezing clumped themselves closely around Sceptile and Tiny, with the last remaining Weezing engulfing its entire gaseous being onto Sceptile's right arm, much to Sceptile's surprise.

Lucario watched on at this scene, his tension rising.

That Weezing wasn't being cut by LEAF BLADE since it's a possessed clump of gas, and simply stared at the Forest Pokémon with both heads expressing an evil glare in their eyes. All of the Koffing and Weezing did the same, even to the weakened Emanation Pokémon.

"SELFDESTRUCT!" The Grunts who owned the Koffing shouted.

"EXPLOSION!" the Grunts who owned the Weezing shouted.

"_...What…?_" Lucario was stunned to hear those two attacks being ordered. He swore he felt his whole physical being sink with dread at the thought of having the Grunts _willingly_ put the lives of their own Pokémon's in jeopardy, just to take out other Pokémon.

Within one moment of those words, the Koffing and Weezing didn't hesitate to utilize an attack that would likely eliminate their existence in a heartbeat. They quickly made themselves glow a blinding white light, preparing to explode.

Sceptile and Tiny remained stationary, since they knew that they couldn't escape because they were surrounded. They closed their eyes, fatalistically accepting death, hoping that it would be quick and painless.

Tiny even went as far as clinging onto Sceptile's left leg, as if it was a farewell hug.

However, Lucario wasn't going to accept that _kneeling_ down. Quickly, he got up on his two furry feet and used EXTREMESPEED to sprint towards the targeted Pokémon, planning to retrieve them and free them from a fiery death. Just as quickly as he ran, he exposed his cover to the Team Rocket Grunts in the process with that same gale-making speed.

"What in the world?" The _very_ same Grunt that did the double-take earlier to a shrub was the first to notice Lucario, quickly followed by the remainder of the Grunts. He wasn't flabbergasted by the fact that a Lucario was here in a forest—since they're more common, despite being seldom seen by humanity, in cold and tall mountain ranges. He was more discombobulated by the fact as to why the Lucario he saw was charging _towards_ the intended explosion site.

"(Almost…there…)" Lucario could feel enough dread and suspense in his heart to the point of seeing the world slow down in front of him, adrenaline surging to his mind and slowing down time before him. He could even _feel_ his own accelerated heartbeat pulsate within his head, since he can't hear it with his ears due to the rush of wind caused by EXTREMESPEED.

He made one final leap across the wooden remains of the tree house, paying little attention to the fact that his sense of time slowed down before him at the moment. He landed and made one final dash towards Sceptile and Tiny.

Sceptile opened its eyes for a brief moment, noticing Lucario running towards it. Its eyes widened quickly, yet Tiny's eyes remained clamped shut, its being fully cringed for fear of death.

"…Lucario…?" Sceptile said at the sight of the Aura Pokémon, here of all places.

"…_Scep—_"

_**BOOM!**_

Just as he was within ten feet of saving his friends, the Koffing and Weezing immediately detonated, exploding with an immense shockwave since they were all concentrated so closely together. What could be seen by everyone is a spherical red fireball that gave a massive knockback to whatever was within fifteen feet of it.

No one even noticed Sceptile and Tiny flying away from the location, _completely_ engulfed in fire.

Since Lucario was ten feet close to it, most of the explosion's shockwave energy made contact with him vehemently. Lucario was instantly subdued by the shockwave and then sent flipping through the sky and impacting a nearby tree with his back.

The force he sustained was so great that he fell onto the floor, his snout pointing to his right side of his body as his face buried itself into the dirt, instantly knocked unconscious—which reluctantly removed his Aura Vision ability due to stalwart physical trauma—, and simultaneously snapped the tree in half. The end result left him having three-inch-long splinters pierce a significant way through his entire backside, about half-an-inch through his back, quickly staining his pristine yellow torso fur with his own blood.

He also retained temporarily loss of hearing from the shockwave narrowly blowing out his eardrums, but that would quickly recover by the time he came back to his senses.

All of the Grunts began to walk towards the unconscious Aura Pokémon's location and were left puzzled by what he chose to do. They believed that the Aura Pokémon rushed towards the explosion, not suspecting firstly that he could've simply attempted to save them.

"Is that a Lucario?" One Grunt inquired to another.

"I believe so," That other Grunt responded back, "but its blue fur is _darker_ than usual."

"What's one doing here in a forest?" Another Grunt asks to some of the other Grunts.

"I believe the more important question is:" One Grunt reached to the back of his utility belt and retrieved his Great Ball—a Poké Ball model easily identifiable by its light blue top hemisphere, familiar white bottom hemisphere and black ring, and noticeable red band across the top hemisphere—from there. He then brought it up front, so that everyone could see it, and held it menacingly as he continued to creep over to Lucario. "Will that Lucario meet our boss's preferences?"

As they walked closer and more cautiously, they eventually surrounded Lucario in a "U" formation. The remainder of the Grunts—excluding the one that got knocked out cold by Sceptile's tail swipe—retrieved their one Great Ball from their utility belts when they formed that "U" formation, so as to capture it if they understood Lucario was knocked out.

The Rocket Grunts to the left side of that "U" formation noticed something slightly disturbing about Lucario's current facial countenance, and it wasn't the fact that his mouth was agape and was bleeding somewhat from there, which gave his chin and left cheek's fur a purple color when the blood was coagulating.

"What the hell…?" One of those Grunts said, seeing Lucario awake.

"I didn't see _this_ coming…"

"Such a powerful Pokémon…"

"We're boned…"

What they noticed from Lucario was actually paradoxical as to what they originally believed. They all unanimously assumed that this Aura Pokémon was brutally knocked out and therefore, an _effortless_ capture by whomever did so.

But instead, they were all left discombobulated when they noticed that not only was Lucario _awake_, but was _crying_ silently. The Grunts noticed his tears escape from his eyes and roll off his snout to moisten the soil nearby. They heard his breathing, which wasn't struggled or irregular, much to their surprise.

_Physically_ wise, the Aura Pokémon was stable, despite the internal trauma and blood loss due from piercing wounds and blunt force. But _mentally_ wise, he was breaking down, after seeing the explosion that removed Sceptile and Tiny from existence.

Lucario quickly clenched his left fist, which startled the Grunts to his right a bit, and immediately began to glow a green-colored aura all over his body. "_You…bastards…_" He said with spite. "_…My beloved friends…cease to exist…_"

All fifteen _available_ Grunts were left astounded by the fact that the Lucario they were about to capture could _speak,_ and _not_ by the fact that he was pissed off _or_ emanating green light, due to their sense of normality clouding their sense of imagination. They didn't even pay attention to his words.

The green light emanating from Lucario quickly extended outward to the recently-knocked over tree and began to siphon its aura. In seconds, the tree lost its leaves due to a partial loss of its aura and Lucario's wounds were healed, once the splinters were plucked off via minor use of PSYCHIC. The green light died off when he was fully healed, and then Lucario planted his left fist into the earth to lift himself upright.

All of the Grunts stepped back cautiously, since they were now starting to feel a sense of survival rising within them.

He glared at each individual Grunt with much hate as he wiped away with his right arm the blood from his mouth, removing most of the abnormal coloration, not caring currently that his back has a few dry sanguine blotches of his coagulated blood.

"(My God this Lucario is _tall_…)" One Grunt thought.

"_How do you plan to compensate?_" He wrinkled his forehead with hate, his eyes gleaming gold and his dreadlock-like appendages hovering horizontally from Aura Vision activating, before crossing both of his arms in an "X" shape. And then suddenly, he extended them out simultaneously, with METAL CLAWS formed and blazing a brilliant white light.

He could not sense any form of guilt or repent from the auras of everyone nearby Sceptile's home, which only made him more willing to tear apart at all souls responsible, be it human or Pokémon, to bite-sized pieces of flesh.

Most of the Grunts began to sweat nervously, while the remaining Grunts were more concerned with capturing their current hostile opponent.

"_How do you all plan to pay for the lives that you all so easily destroyed?_" He said seriously, eyeing at each and every Grunt for at least a few seconds, having them believe that he was actually staring into their souls and deciding their future, when he was currently reading their minds and scanning for any signs of guilt-imbued second thoughts.

"…" Not _one_ Grunt said a word due to a surplus of intimidation. They all knew that if running became their current action instead of remaining quiescent, they would _all_ be mercilessly mowed down to shreds, especially since their Fire-Type Pokémon are still fatigued from using fire for a set amount of consistency. But what truly sealed their future was the fact that their recent action of killing two valued Pokémon left them unmarred of guilt or second thoughts, since they were ordered to capture or _kill_.

"_No answers? No suggestions? Not even any guilt or signs of repent?_" Lucario said, finishing analyzing their minds and deciding their fate.

His choice: kill _everyone_ responsible, both human and Pokémon.

Once that conclusion was set, Lucario grinned at them maliciously, imagining what would occur in the next minute. The accumulation with its bright gold eyes added further dread to the Grunts, whom seemed suddenly paralyzed with fear.

"_Well then, allow me_ _to make your _final_ decision!_"

With METAL CLAW still valid, he decided to add RAPID SPIN to it. Curling both of his arms counterclockwise and turning himself that way as well, he suddenly unloaded energy and spun exceedingly clockwise, with METAL CLAWs held outward like blades on a ceiling fan. He positioned himself low for better aerodynamics, his feet expertly placed and rotated for minimum dirt drag, and his eyes were kept in the same line of sight that his METAL CLAWs were to prevent vertigo. In doing so, he spun so fast that he caused near _perfect_ gutting from the _entire _chest cavity to _every_ standing Grunt.

Blood, bones, clothing fabric, and organs were scattered everywhere. The sixteen exhausted Fire-Type Pokémon watched on as their master's internal structure scattered across the forest floor. They didn't care much about that gruesome action though, feeling relieved that they no longer had to serve anyone else.

Once Lucario stopped revolving, he centered himself and formed a battle stance. He saw all of the empty chests of his victims—which included the spine, _back half_ of the ribs, and leftover flesh—and then looked at their heads to notice that they were dead, their frozen grit teeth and screaming faces revealed such. The Grunt's bodies fell over in tandem, pouring what blood remained of them.

Lucario disabled his stance and casually wiped off the blood from his sharp battle claws with his stubby paws, satisfied with his work of vengeance. "(Fifteen of your lives to compensate for the two that you removed…)" he thought while cleaning his METAL CLAWs, "(you're all _too_ generous)," he smirked and chuckled a bit, concealing his current emotional pain with a dark gleeful façade.

Just as he was about to _decide_ to leave the murder scene to aid Wanderer, he was admonished by the sudden hostile growls of the newly-released Fire-Type Pokémon. Lucario was reminded of their presence and he gave them a curious look with his head tilted slightly to the right, negating his METAL CLAWS and reading their auras and minds to determine why _specifically_ they were acting so argumentative.

They were simply wild Pokémon, and had it within their instincts to fight any opponent that they see, not including themselves, since they grew accustomed to working together.

"(The more time siphoned from me here increases the danger of my only remaining friend,)" Lucario thought with all of the Fire-Type Pokémon ogling at him rancorously, with a similarity to Lucario's Aura Vision's fierce stare. "_I don't have time to dissipate with you all,_" Lucario said while scratching the left side of his neck in a blasé manner, keeping his head mildly to the right and exposing some of his satirical canine-like teeth briefly.

None of the Fire-Type Pokémon liked that choice at all and began to stalk him, as if he was their prey.

Lucario stopped scratching his neck calmly and then set his arms to his sides. "_Why don't I call on my posse to fight for me, since you all seem so eager to fight, and I'm outnumbered sixteen-to-one,_" Lucario said without care of their opinion.

With a bit of aura manipulation, Lucario began to disperse fractions of his aura around his surroundings. To the Fire-Type Pokémon watching, they saw Lucario resonating side to side distortedly. But what Lucario was truly doing is using DOUBLE TEAM, but with more…_realistic_ aura duplicates.

In only a few seconds, Lucario made as many doppelgangers of himself as there was Fire-Type Pokémon. They all burst out of thin air without so much as a dispersion of the air around their presence. All sixteen duplicates—excluding the original—emerged quickly in front of him, all with standby martial battle stances.

All of the Fire-type Pokémon were left discombobulated with the sudden appearance of those duplicates. The weaker ones were feeling a bit intimidated as well.

"_I must warn you all…_" Lucario—the _original_—crossed his arms, having them placed _below _his chest-spike, and the sixteen duplicates cracked their knuckles in unison and grinned evilly, intimidating the Fire-Type Pokémon. "_…they can all be a bit…unpleasant._"

He uncurled his arms and leaped high into the air, and back-flipped twice to get to a tree branch. "_Don't say that I didn't warn you…"_ he said before lifting his left paw in the air with two stubby fingers connected together by their tips,_ "…especially if you survive their onslaught,_" he smirked briefly and then snapped his fingers. He then used EXTREMESPEED to hurdle quickly across the tree's branches, away from this place and to where he is more needed.

After the Lucario duplicates heard that snapping of the portly fingers, instant carnage began. All of the DOUBLE TEAM duplicates swarmed the Fire-Type Pokémon and pummeled them to unrecognizable shapes with incredible speed and synchronicity.

If those Pokémon were lucky, the first dozen _simultaneous_ punches across the face should've knocked them out cold, so that they'd die without feeling the rest of the beating. However, only a few were that lucky, and the rest were feeling every bit of pain until death gave them ease and released their souls from their bodies. No counterattacks of any kind were able to be launched, let alone _thought_ of, since they were pounded so severely and so quickly that they, just as quickly, _lost_ the ability to comprehend.

One minute passed until all sixteen Fire-Type Pokémon were found not only dead, but also _twisted_ in appearance. Only proficient observers could recognize the dead bodies, if _any_ were around at the moment.

The clones, once done with their orders, evaporated away into the air.

However, as if defying normal laws, one Lucario clone _reemerged_ from the air. This clone apparently noticed the unconscious Team Rocket Grunt that Sceptile knocked out earlier, and he feels as though he should finish the job.

He conjured an AURA SPHERE in his left paw and then walked towards the unconscious Grunt, throwing the AURA SPHERE and catching it repeatedly in a casual manner. Once within kicking distance of the Grunt, he simply dropped the AURA SPHERE on top of the Grunts head. The Grunt's head was instantly blown off in a gruesome manner—as if it was shot at with a shotgun round, at pointblank range. Flesh, blood, and dust scattered around the area of detonation.

He then eyed the four helicopters in the air. All four of them already began to drop from the sky, running out of fuel after their prolonged time hovering above the forest. They would fall to the earth in moments, on their own.

The Lucario clone, once finished, simply smirked and faded away into the air. In doing so, he relinquished his memories and experiences to the original Lucario, so that Lucario receives what the others experienced, once the aura utilized returned to him.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Forest (Base Level)<span>

The last time that this location was referenced, it was when Wanderer and a couple dozen Pokémon subordinates were about to fight against Team Rocket Grunts that resided within four descending helicopters. But as of now, the scene was similar to that of battlefield warfare—but without pistols, machine guns, or any other modern firearms and manmade handheld explosives—because the only two sentient beings in this forest were humans and Pokémon.

Every minute or so, one Pokémon from Wanderer's group was captured by the Rocket Grunts, and at the same time, the Rocket Grunt's Pokémon were knocked out, or killed senselessly. The two sides were seemingly equal in terms of physical Pokémon quantity, and they kept it that way when either side was weakening.

Somehow, Wanderer managed to stay amongst the unbound Forest Pokémon and continued to discreetly level the field of the enemy Rocket Grunt's Pokémon. However, the Team Rocket Grunts quickly recognized this insolent light-furred Aura Pokémon and started to center their attacks and capture attempts to it.

Wanderer continued to laugh non-telepathically when evading incoming Poké Balls and beating the living daylights of oncoming enemy Pokémon with a few well-placed stabs at a Pokémon with its paw-spikes.

It was holding its own with exceptional skill, using only Aura Vision and its respectable repertoire of both aura and psychic attacks. It was also aiding its other Pokémon subordinates by foiling any attempt to capture more exposed Pokémon by the Rocket Grunts.

And in doing so, it was gradually increasing the chances that a Poké Ball would come out of alleged nowhere, strike it, and then get assimilated by it.

When Wanderer countered a Pokémon attack, it left itself vulnerable for a couple of seconds. A fast-acting Grunt noticed a lighter-colored Lucario that was out in the open and quickly reached for a Great Ball in the back of his utility belt, and then launched it from his hand with the expertise of a baseball pitcher.

The Great Ball, as it flipped forward, somehow evaded every form of obstacles that surrounded this area, as well as any ballistic or volatile Pokémon technique fired. It quickly homed in on Wanderer, and as Wanderer finally noticed it, it immediately realized that it _wouldn't_ be able to evade it. The Great Ball was within feet of making contact with it when suddenly…

"_AURA SOLARBEAM!_"

Two words that haven't resonated across the air for over thirteen years have been shouted out once more. The source obviously came from Lucario, since he was the only Pokémon in the forest who could use both AURA SPHERE and SOLARBEAM simultaneously.

Perpendicular to Wanderer's current position, a massive beam of concentrated sunlight energy _and_ aura power roared nearby it, obliterating the oncoming Great Ball to ash, and then over-killing that _same_ ash to nothingness. That same attack also left a perfectly-round indentation across the forest that was in its path, for a solid quarter mile before crossing over a cliff.

Lucario, the source of the attack, was seen about fifty feet away, with his paw's inner wrists placed together, standing atop of the forest floor.

He proceeded over to where Wanderer was and said with a smirk, "_Aren't you glad that you're still amongst the unbound?_"

"_Heavily,_" Wanderer said concisely, briefly placing its right paw around its chest-spike since it could've sworn that it felt its heart stop momentarily, and then continuing with more pressing matters.

"_I saw with Aura Vision that you were around Sceptile's tree house…_" it droned mournfully, causing Lucario to pinch the area of flesh between his eyes with regret, "_…both of them are dead now, aren't they…_"

"(*Sigh*)" Lucario shook his head and almost came to the point of crying hollowly once more.

Just as Wanderer was about to say something to mollify the situation, another Great Ball was on its way. However, the intended target of this Great Ball wasn't Wanderer, but the source of the powerful AURA SOLARBEAM attack, Lucario.

Wanderer noticed this Great Ball coming and many plausible options quickly came to its mind. Judging by time _alone_, the only option that would seem to work would be to quickly charge _into_ the target of the Great Ball, so long as the Great Ball didn't target Wanderer itself in the process.

Wanderer suddenly charged to Lucario, with its right shoulder protruding outward. It quickly shoved Lucario aside and sent him briefly in mid-air, slightly shocked as to why Wanderer shoved him aside.

Wanderer, now in the path of the Great Ball, looked to its left side and saw it coming relentlessly. "(Better me than you, Lucario,)" It thought to itself, knowing that there was no more time possible to evade the Great Ball and was struck by it across the left side of its head. The Great Ball opened up, exposing its reflective interior, and as Wanderer was reluctantly turned into a red glowing energy, Lucario was witnessing this while landing on the dirt floor and sliding across it on his back.

"_Damn it! Not you too…!_" Lucario got back on his feet quickly and felt helpless in stopping what was going on in front of him, especially since he wasn't fast enough to prevent the Great Ball to fly back to its owner after Wanderer was captured by it, or lock onto it quickly enough to use PSYCHIC on it.

Things took a turn for the worst soon after. Every other Pokémon that acted as Wanderer's subordinates were captured soon after, leaving only Lucario against the remaining enemies and their Pokémon.

Lucario formed his battle stance when he noticed where all the enemies were located. "_You humans have captured and _killed _Pokémon of this forest!_" He snarled at the group of Team Rocket members, veiling his emotions of sadness and regret, replacing them with rage, "_What possible gain do you all have here?_"

Not _one_ of the Grunts gave a thought as to why this dark-furred Lucario could speak. They all remained silent, and returned all of their Pokémon into their Poké Balls.

This rubbed the Aura Pokémon in a wrong way and only made him more enraged. "_**TELL ME!**_" He boomed, _almost_ shaking the floor that everyone was standing on, and almost _mouthing_ the words himself automatically.

"These loyal subordinates gain little for their actions," a bold voice spoke from behind the Rocket Grunts. "The Team Rocket organization benefits mostly with this capture genocide, as the Pokémon are distributed intelligently within members."

This voice caught Lucario by a bit of surprise, despite the fact that he had Aura Vision currently active and could therefore see where the voice's source was, but not for the reasons you may believe. What made Lucario's eyes widen in surprise was the fact that he _remembers_ that very same voice from his distant weekly nightmares.

_Disquieting/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD7 - Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

To add to Lucario's uneasiness, the source of that voice crossed over to the front of the group, exposing his identity as well; and to add to Lucario's fear, he _recognized_ that same person completely.

That person was around 6' 6" in height, physically stalwart, with an expensive-looking orange suit with a pristine white shirt and red tie in the middle. He wore expensive, brown shoes—that didn't seem appropriate to the forest terrain—and had short hair that was combed backwards.

These were all specific attributes that Lucario remembers pristinely, ever since being exposed to this same being for _130_ times in his dreams since hatching from an abandoned egg on the roots of a tree.

Lucario didn't expose the fact that he has seen this man before. He simply chose to undo his stance, but _not_ his Aura Vision ability, so as to remain on martial standby, and listen closely to what purpose this man has to say for the malicious actions that the Grunts have been ordered to do.

"I am the Team Rocket organization's proud leader, Giovanni," he continued speaking with a sinister smirk and with his arms crossed behind his back.

"(Not as long as I have excess aura at my disposal to burn…)" Lucario thought in an irritated manner.

"Since you want an answer to _what possible gain we have_ in being here…" Giovanni continued to smirk and mock Lucario's previous words.

Lucario growled a bit, exposing his canine-like fangs, and clenched his fist when he heard Giovanni mock his words. His Aura Vision eyes were glowing with anger.

"…I'll give you our reasons for being here, since you crave it." Giovanni uncrossed his arms, but never stopped grinning evilly.

The fact that Giovanni has been grinning for a while now made Lucario fantasize maliciously about Giovanni. "(I would love to leave a permanent frown on that face of his right now…)" Lucario thought, imagining himself _personally_ slicing the corners of Giovanni's lips downward across his cheeks, leaving an everlasting frown in the form of a larger mouth and swollen scars.

"We are here to simply capture your kind," Giovanni explained straightforwardly. "You've seen my subordinates and _their_ Pokémon, right?"

Reluctantly, Lucario nodded once in response to Giovanni's question.

"Each and every one of them was captured or obtained economically by us," Giovanni continued, removing his grin from his face. "Team Rocket uses them for criminal work, economic business, and eventual world domination."

"(World domination…?)" Lucario thought those two words with a surprising amount of _under_whelmed care. What Lucario cared about _more_ was what the Pokémon's function in Team Rocket was. "_So to you and your organization, Pokémon are just…disposable_ paraphernalia?" He said with emphasis on the last word.

"Not all of them," Giovanni began to expose one important fact.

Those words made Lucario's eyes widen with shock. "_What do you mean by 'Not all of them'?_" He was suddenly curious to what Team Rocket's leader had just said, _almost_ overshadowing his malice to Giovanni in the process.

"Team Rocket only uses the most stalwart Pokémon that meet and _surpass_ our expectations in combat," Giovanni confirmed this hidden fact. "To those that _can't_, they're simply abandoned and forgotten—or _killed_, as we prefer."

A bolt of dread struck Lucario in the head when he heard the word "killed". He twitched a bit, finding _their_ method of killing unheard of.

"I can tell by your reaction that you find all of this difficult to comprehend," Giovanni smirked once more, and then placed his hand inside the side pockets of his pants—and not for reasons concerning appearance of any sort.

"_Your organization sounds obscene!_" Lucario was feeling appalled as of now.

"Well, we always try our hardest," Giovanni responded simply, loving the criminal and malicious part of Team Rocket.

"(Oh my Arceus…)" Lucario suddenly became overwhelmed with nausea that he literally dropped down on both knees, put his paws on the floor, and _vomit_ a few times. The thought of this organization and its actions overwhelmed his stomach.

The Rocket Grunts groaned in disgust when seeing Lucario heave assorted digested Berries onto the dirt floor a few times. Giovanni however, didn't show any sign of disgust. He simply chuckled to himself, finding it somewhat amusing that this Pokémon that he was witnessing first-handedly was heaving, all because of the mere mention of something commonly-practiced by his organization.

Some residue was hanging off of Lucario's lips like discarded spider webs on walls. After vomiting, he got back up on his feet and wiped off the saliva he could feel on his lips with his left arm. He also kicked some fresh dirt on top of the dirt that he threw up on, for no beneficial reason. The nauseating feeling in his gut however, it didn't disappear completely.

"Does that answer all of your questions?" Giovanni remains transparent of the repulsive actions made earlier by the Aura Pokémon.

"_There's a purpose in you explaining basic details about your organization to me,_" Lucario said, almost gagging in the middle of those words. "_I can sense the malicious aura emanating from your mind. You want to personally capture _me."

_(Song Ends Abruptly)_

Giovanni simply chuckled evilly when Lucario exposed that fact to all of the Team Rocket Grunts. "Nothing passes by those artificial gold eyes of yours. I'm _more_ than well aware of that aura-imbued ability of yours, as well as its strengths…_and_ weaknesses. It's only natural that you'd distrust me, someone that seems so cold-heartedly malicious," Giovanni said with absolutely no hesitation or fear.

Lucario scowled at him and set himself in a stance. This stance however, was a charging stance.

"That one attack you launched earlier to protect your friend…" Giovanni recalled, taking a guess to the relationship that Lucario has with Wanderer. "I can immediately assume that it's above and beyond the capability of _any_ Lucario."

After saying a compliment to Lucario's power, Giovanni discreetly pulled out from his left pocket a Poké Ball of a different model, currently the size of a ping-pong ball. However, with the touch of the button on its center, the different model Poké Ball expanded with a futuristic sound and exposed its true nature between Giovanni's fingers.

What Giovanni was holding in his left hand was an Ultra Ball, a Poké Ball model easily identifiable by its shadow-colored top half, nostalgic black band and white bottom hemisphere, and the yellow "H" on the surface if seen overhead.

Giovanni locked-on to Lucario with vigilant and open eyes, never once looking away at Lucario and not once looking at the Ultra Ball that he drew from his left pocket. Knowing that Lucario could read his mind and anticipate any future mentally-planned actions, he used that to his advantage, something that few people can manage unless they practice.

"(I wonder if that Lucario will prefer to be captured with this Ultra Ball…)" He thought while raising the Ultra Ball out into the open.

Lucario, like a sensitive TV antenna attuned to brainwaves, detected those thoughts with his Aura Vision ability and suddenly charged towards Giovanni in hate, with his aura-imbued golden eyes leaving streaks of light in his wake, crossing both arms in the shape of an "X". The paw-spikes suddenly began to emanate green light and quickly, he uncrossed those two arms in a swift motion, causing the glowing green paw-spikes to lash out in the form of glowing green scimitar-shaped LEAF BLADEs. The tips of those recent LEAF BLADEs dug long and thin furrows into the soil as Lucario continued to charge with air-slicing speeds.

"_Let's see you think about my capture without your _head_ on your shoulders!_" He roared.

The Rocket Grunts began to cringe from intimidation alone, however Giovanni showed no signs of trepidation in any manner. All of the Grunts stepped back, but Giovanni didn't budge an inch at all. What he simply did was casually toss the Ultra Ball to Lucario, putting little effort in his throw.

Lucario immediately saw this Ultra Ball homing in onto him and quickly chose to bury the LEAF BLADEs more into the soil and plant his padded feet onto the earth as well, _not_ wanting to risk capture. Once he had retarded in terms of _speed_, he formed a defensive battle stance, with LEAF BLADEs adequately placed for immediate use. He believed—from Giovanni's thoughts—that the Ultra Ball incoming towards him was intended for capture, and he was prepared to slice it into multiple unrecognizable pieces once it was within range.

"(…Idiot…)" Giovanni smirked, knowing that Lucario had stepped onto his Ursaring trap.

The Ultra Ball, that Giovanni threw, was never _truly_ meant to capture Lucario. In Giovanni's perspective and thoughts, it was meant to _surprise_ Lucario, and strike him down when he was made vulnerable by Giovanni's feign.

When Lucario sensed the word "Idiot" emanate from Giovanni's thoughts, he instinctively knew that something was wrong. That came to be a reality when the Ultra Ball, which he believed would _capture_ him, opened up and _released_ a large red collection of energy that quickly materialized into a muscular humanoid Pokémon that's easily identifiable by its _four_ individual arms—the Superpower Pokémon Machamp.

The Ultra Ball returned to Giovanni's hand, but the energy of it being thrown continued on in the Pokémon that the Ultra Ball released. That Fighting-Type Pokémon used that energy and charged towards the cringed Lucario with the intent of snapping Lucario in half with its grotesque physique and brute force.

"Machamp…!" Giovanni shouted to his Pokémon. "…Remove Lucario's resistance with MACH PUNCH!"

Lucario comprehended those words quicker than Machamp and brought up both LEAF BLADEs in front of his face and chest, choosing to defend against the attack, since MACH PUNCH is a lightning-fast attack and incredibly difficult to evade, as well as one of his type attribute weaknesses.

He currently had a foul countenance, since he knew that Giovanni had literally used Lucario mind-reading abilities to _his_ advantage. "(*Sigh*) _Arceus-dammit…_" Lucario sighed after falling victim for such a bluff.

Machamp, still charging, heard Giovanni's commands and utilized the mentioned attack by launching a lightning-fast punch from one of its two left arms. This punch struck only air since Lucario was still farther off, and that was one of the two uses of MACH PUNCH.

MACH PUNCH's first point was that it could be used to deliver dozens of quick jabs onto the opponent or victim in seconds, _or_ it could be used for long range, albeit with less quantity and somewhat weaker power. When used for long range, the attack strikes air and that very _same_ air is rocketed towards the target.

The MACH PUNCH attack from Machamp launched a concentrated gale that rushed over to Lucario, the target. When it hit Lucario, its power was more to handle than he thought. He felt as if the entire front side of his body had been hit by a falling tree. His body went limp, much to his astonishment, and he was hardly able to keep his LEAF BLADEs on standby, let alone _stand_ upright or keep his head up.

The energy from MACH PUNCH didn't stop there when it struck him. The attack kept going and, to the Grunt's surprise, left a _perfect_ scar on a tree behind Lucario that was shaped like him. The scar was so immaculate that Lucario could fit into it if given the opportunity.

"(*Cough*)" The attack was so powerful that it partially bruised his body, his sudden cough coming from the air escaping from his lungs.

"Now, subsequent yourself with FOCUS PUNCH!"

Machamp heard Giovanni's orders and, still running towards Lucario, charged up both of its right fists with white energy. The attack it was using, FOCUS PUNCH, requires a short amount of time in which the user must focus itself to deliver the most powerful of Fighting-Type attacks. If struck by the opponent before fully concentrated however, the user's focus is broken and the attack is stopped until the next time that it's used.

Since Lucario was surprisingly stunned by MACH PUNCH, he couldn't counterattack at the hostile Machamp. But that doesn't mean that he can't defend.

Lucario, as a last-resort method, used a powerful defensive technique known as IRON DEFENSE. His entire body, fur included, suddenly and briefly glimmered in brilliant metallic silver and reflected light just as equally. Since he was a Steel-Type Pokémon—as well as a Fighting-Type Pokémon—he already has significant _natural_ metallic properties in his body, and IRON DEFENSE enhances those natural metallic properties of his. Lucario knew that he was going to be in a world of hurt, which is why he used IRON DEFENSE, so that he wouldn't be knocked out cold and made an easy target for capture.

Machamp had easily caught up to Lucario and didn't slow down or hesitate when Lucario had already utilized IRON DEFENSE. As expected, Lucario got hit by FOCUS PUNCH dead center at his stomach. For a brief moment, his feet didn't budge an inch when FOCUS PUNCH made contact, but his body—especially his spine—vertically curled around one of Machamp's fists.

Lucario's countenance clearly showed signs of physical damage, but he knew that if he didn't use IRON DEFENSE, he could've had his spine snapped in half. Instead, he only sustained a sore back, and a brutal stomachache.

"(*Cough*)" Lucario coughed up blood this time, and struck Machamp near the eyes with it. "_Is that all _(*cough*)_ that you've got?_" Lucario was taunting Machamp for some logical reason, since he suffered tolerable amounts of damage that he could easily overcome due to both his Steel-Type's incredible defenses and his Fighting-Type's exceptional stamina and physical power.

He also still had LEAF BLADE and Aura Vision active, a sign that Machamp wasn't hitting stalwartly enough.

Machamp slightly responded to Lucario's taunt and gave Lucario a serious facial expression with its thick lips, and then it used its second fist to send Lucario flying backwards. As if comically, Lucario had not only collided with the tree that Machamp's MACH PUNCH had left a Lucario-shaped scar on, but he had actually placed himself _perfectly within_ the scar on the tree.

"_Oh _big_ surprise…_" Lucario continued to taunt Machamp's power, as if deliberately getting it angry so it could lose its serenity. "_You used your second right fist in tandem, along with a second subsequent FOCUS PUNCH._"

Lucario, feigning no signs of physical fatigue or damage, placed both forepaws on the tree and hoisted himself out of the tree with little energy. He stepped forward slowly, concealing soreness and pain from Machamp's attacks with remarkable skill.

"_I didn't even know that a Machamp was capable of such…_complicated_ actions._" He continued insulting Giovanni's Machamp, knocking off the individual splinters that had hung onto his backside's fur simultaneously. "_What do you plan to do next? Do you plan on _planning_ your next choices of attacks, you retarded hulk of uncontrollable brute force?_"

Giovanni, for the first time since placing himself into this forest, was actually expressing a _serious_ countenance that had an upside-down grin on it. It was as if he was foretelling that Machamp was succumbing to Lucario's taunts and going to pay severely for any future reckless actions.

Machamp retracted its right fist and cracked all of its knuckles quickly after hearing those powerful words, not liking being called a "Retarded hulk of uncontrollable brute force" by a Pokémon whom survived its physical onslaught. With rage, it ignited _all four fists_ with FOCUS PUNCH's white energy and charged once more, battle crying in the process.

To relieve the sore feeling of slamming into a tree, he cracked his neck bones by rolling his head to the left and right, and he rolled his black fur-padded shoulders a few times to crack the lower area of his neck simultaneously. To finish, he cracked his knuckles, releasing small bursts of aura from each individual knuckle.

All of this was done casually, as if he didn't care anymore if Machamp was a threat or not.

"_You're incapable of anything but imbecilic and predictable physical power,_" he said with a haughty, sinister leer when done cracking his sore bones.

Just as Machamp was about to strike with a quadruple FOCUS PUNCH attack, Lucario quickly extended his left paw out, as if he was going to fire an AURA SPHERE at it, and had his paw's palm focused on the incoming bulldozer of a Fighting-Type Pokémon.

In an instant, he had his entire paw emanate his natural translucent blue aura and without explanation, that same aura of his _enveloped_ the charging Machamp itself. Lucario's aura quickly made Machamp stop in its tracks, to its surprise, when it was only seconds away from fragmenting Lucario's skull with its subsequent punches.

Machamp had become prisoner to Lucario's PSYCHIC attack.

"_With brute force and little intelligence to support your potential…_" Lucario said before twitching his paw's digits.

All of a sudden, Machamp's grotesque hands, which were still utilizing FOCUS PUNCH, suddenly bent inward and the Superpower Pokémon began to brutally strike _itself_. To everyone within the area, which includes Lucario and the Team Rocket Grunts, they were visualizing a Machamp crush itself with its own force and with the most powerful known Fighting-Type attack as well.

To the Grunts, this was apprehensively disturbing and nauseating. To Lucario, this was part of his battle strategy. And to Giovanni, this was a form of Machamp's punishment that he imagined committing to it due to disobeying orders.

That Machamp had not only, against its will, _pummeled_ its internal organs to a bruised pulp, but it had also shattered its ribs as if they were glass windows on a house's walls. The surface of its fists formed bruises due to heavy physical use, and those very same bruises literally _ruptured_ and coated all that they punched with blood. Machamp was no longer in control of itself.

"…_You're nothing more than a stalwart contrivance that I'm free to abuse for my benefit._"

Now Lucario telekinetically-forced Machamp to pummel its own pre-grotesque face, and just like its chest, its face quickly became as broken and gag worthy to look at. Within a few seconds, Machamp had immediately passed out, but not from the mere exhaustion of its face being punched into an unrecognizable form. It's unconscious because its skull had _cracked inward_. The evidence was obvious when a large mark of implosion across the forehead, right between the lumps, was visible.

Be that as it may, it was still alive, but only just.

"(You're better off with Arceus above us than here where you're misused by humanity,)" Lucario thought honestly, as he made the Superpower Pokémon stop attacking itself, causing it to go limp and have both its head and four arms dangle under gravity's control. "(Knocking you unconscious will free you from further pain,)" he continued to ponder about Machamp as if talking to it.

Lucario saw Machamp's perpendicular appearance to the earth, paying more attention to its injuries and shed blood. On the outside, he was keeping a stalwart personality with powerful words and countenance. Albeit on the inside, he was feeling compassion and pity for it. He felt the need to liberate Machamp from Team Rocket, for its own good.

"(And now to quickly liberate you…and then _punish_ the source of this malice…)" Lucario angled his paws so that his LEAF BLADEs pointed forward, one above the other, pointed directly at Machamp's heart and trachea.

Under the influence of PSYCHIC, Machamp immediately darted over to Lucario. To the surprise of the Grunts, Machamp was immediately halted in its tracks once it made contact with both of Lucario's LEAF BLADEs. Without problem, both LEAF BLADEs _pierced_ Machamp across the two targeted areas: the heart and trachea. Lucario didn't even budge an inch backwards when Machamp was pierced in two different areas simultaneously.

All of the Grunts cringed in disgust over the gruesome event that occurred to Giovanni's Machamp. Giovanni, however, still expressed a fowl countenance. He knew that, even though Machamp loathed him—as does many Pokémon that reluctantly serve Team Rocket—, it was still a juggernaut of a Pokémon that had shown its potential over and over again before his eyes.

But once that was set aside of his mind, he knew that he could simply obtain a fresh _new_ one quickly, since he saw Pokémon as being disposable tools that could be obtained easily via crime and the black market that Team Rocket supported and thrived on.

Lucario de-activated his LEAF BLADEs and Machamp, being supported only by the scimitar-shaped blade's existence, fell to the floor and onto its back. It was, not surprisingly, bleeding excessively, due to the massive puncture wounds through its trachea and sternum, as well as the wounds inflicted onto it internally.

Lucario, still seeing the surroundings around him, looked down at the deceased Superpower Pokémon and noticed its aura had dissipated into the air. "(May Arceus have pity on your soul…)" He thought, not showing any type of facial expression that exposes sadness or guilt for his actions. He was only scowling due to Giovanni's cruel disposition, which led him to free this Pokémon from further torment.

When Lucario looked back at Giovanni with his ominous scowl, it disappeared when he had just barely managed to see Giovanni's next action. Giovanni dropped Machamp's Ultra Ball, and then with rage, _smashed_ it with those posh shoes of his.

"(You're about as disposable as this shattered Ultra Ball under my feet!)" Giovanni thought in rage and with gritted teeth.

Giovanni's subordinates looked at his action, but their mouths remained quiescent and closed. They knew that if they did do so due to a misplaced sense of discipline, the consequences can border between the realm of having one of his Pokémon unleash hell upon them or immediate expulsion from Team Rocket.

Lucario raised a nonexistent eyebrow at Giovanni's action, and then he tilted his head to his right and scratched the left side of his neck with his left paw, slightly exposing his sharp, canine-like teeth. "_I can tell that you're easily able to replace that Machamp that I had pierced to death due to what you were merely pondering over_," Lucario stopped his current action after saying what he had said. He had purposely excluded the action that Giovanni had committed on Machamp's Ultra Ball, finding it rather odd in his point of view.

Giovanni made a few quick breaths through his nose, adding extra force to exhaling through them. He did this to regain some of his lost composure before replacing his attention to what matters: Lucario.

Before speaking to the Aura Pokémon in front of him, he noticed that a strand of his well-groomed brown hair had moved out of place and he quickly moved it back to where it belongs, with a quick upward sweep of his hand over his forehead. "You should count yourself invaluable when I capture you and assimilate your vast feral power as my own." Giovanni said seriously and with an ill-omened tone of voice.

"(How corny…)" Lucario resisted the urge to laugh when Giovanni threatened him. "If _you ever succeed in capturing me…_" Lucario mentioned that possibility to Giovanni, _not_ denying the likelihood of his capture. He knew that there was the possibility that he would be captured and become martially-abused by Giovanni and his goals, and he was willing to prevent that with whatever physical and mental power he could muster. "_So why don't you just release another one of your brainwashed subordinates and I'll liberate it in front of you and your posse's eyes._"

All of the Team Rocket Grunts "oohed" after hearing Lucario's words. They sided with Lucario for only that brief moment before remembering whose side they were _truly_ on. Fortunately for them, Giovanni had his eyes on the prize, the dark-furred Aura Pokémon, which possesses unknown battle potential.

Completely ignoring the Rocket Grunts, he had tucked his right arm into the left inner pocket of his orange suit for only a brief moment, never looking away from Lucario at all before extracting another ping-pong-sized Poké Ball from there with a grip so stalwart that veins began to protrude from his right hand.

It was still safe to assume—for both Lucario and the Rocket Grunts—that Giovanni was pissed off. The specific model of the Poké Ball that Giovanni had drawn out could only be noticed when he pressed the button in the center of it to enlarge it to normal size.

Once Giovanni's forceful grip had wrapped itself more naturally to the Poké Ball, the model was more noticeable. It was a Heavy Ball, easily identifiable by its gray top half, nostalgic black band across the center and white underbelly, and the pattern of blue "bubbles" on the gray top half.

"You _won't_ find this Pokémon as easy to liberate as that Machamp!" Giovanni spoke forcefully before casting out the Pokémon in the Heavy Ball. However, he didn't _throw_ the Heavy Ball towards Lucario. Instead, he literally _planted_ it onto the soil below his feet, close to where he shattered Machamp's Ultra Ball, burying it _wrist_-deep and somehow releasing the Pokémon within it into the soil. When he lifted the Heavy Ball, which was shockingly pristine and free of dirt, a deep hole was seen below, along with a loud and ominous rumble below the dirt.

"(What the hell?)" Lucario was left somewhat dumbfounded when he noticed Giovanni didn't _throw_ the Heavy Ball. He was not used to searching for hostile targets underground, and he knew that it was underground due to his sensitive ears picking up sounds from below the earth.

Still using Aura Vision, he looked down and scanned the soil below him, only to find one massive problem with his Aura Vision. Since even soil itself emanates aura, faint amounts of it albeit, there's such a surplus of dirt layers between the hostile target and Lucario that the hostile target was temporarily veiled in an aura bulwark.

"(…So this is what Giovanni meant…)" he recalled what Giovanni said earlier while searching below for even a fragment of the target Pokémon aura.

* * *

><p>(Lucario's Flashback)<p>

_ Giovanni simply chuckled evilly when Lucario exposed that fact to all of the Team Rocket Grunts. "Nothing passes by those artificial gold eyes of yours. I'm _more_ than well aware of that aura-imbued ability of yours, as well as its strengths…_and_ weaknesses. It's only natural that you'd distrust me, someone that seems so cold-heartedly malicious," Giovanni said with absolutely no hesitation or fear._

* * *

><p>(End of Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"(…by the aura's strengths…and weaknesses…)" he continued to ponder as his aura-enhanced eyes darted across the dirt, seeing only dense aura and not even a mere flash of the target Pokémon's unique aura, with small beads of stress-induced sweat forming to the side of his eyes caused from a lack of necessary awareness.

It was then that Lucario realized that his sense of hearing was more of an asset here than his Aura Vision ability. For the first time, as far back as Lucario can remember in his life, his Aura Vision was outmatched by his proficient sense of hearing, which wasn't failing him at the current moment, and he had to shift tactics and rely on that to locate the hostile target that Giovanni summoned.

"(I can't believe that a human being would be so knowledgeable over aura, a topic that my species is proficient in,)" Lucario came close to becoming stunned by that realization.

As a change of tactics, Lucario actually chose to turn _off_ the Aura Vision, allowing the veins to the sides of his eyes and _inside_ his eyes to relax and shrink—a bit of relief for his depressurized head—as well as his dreadlock-like appendages to become gravity's toys once more. He now had his feet firmly placed onto the soil, closed his eyes, and _listened_ for the location of the target Pokémon, as if his ears were the radar of a submarine. This was the only action that he was doing, which meant that his full attention was set on merely pinpointing the target's location and depth, and _not_ reading minds at the moment.

Giovanni wasn't worried at all. With a smug grin on his face, he thought "(Idiot... You can't adapt to save your life.)"

The immediate instant that Giovanni stopped thinking about Lucario's apparent lack of adaptability, a massive silver metallic tail suddenly shot out of the earth _behind_ Lucario.

Much to Lucario's surprise—which was evident by the fact that his eyes suddenly opened up wide with shock—he didn't budge an inch, and his heart sank to as low as his feet.

Before Lucario could react—or at least perform an about face to see what _specific_ Pokémon was behind him—that same silver tail quickly wrapped around Lucario _twice_, preventing him from wriggling himself free, since his arms were pinned to his body.

The fact that his protruding chest-spike and two paw-spikes _not_ causing damage to the hostile target Pokémon immediately gave him all the information needed to confirm its identity. The Pokémon that used its metallic tail to bind his body was a Steel-Type, since it was both silver and as hard as steel.

Only one Pokémon has that exotic tail and a long physique to match it, and he knew that it belonged to a Steelix.

With only his entire head, feet—below the ankles—, and tail tip—with the rest of his tail forcefully bent down—exposed from Steelix's massive tail, Lucario found it near impossible to escape, since he currently had no free movement of his body whatsoever.

He couldn't conjure an AURA SPHERE because it requires the use of his hands, and any oral-based attacks—such as HYPER BEAM, which he didn't know currently—, would be easily prevented and/or avoided by simply being tilted out of the way. He also had little experience with Fire-Type attacks, since he only knew EMBER. To top it off, he found it consecutively difficult to both breathe and remain conscious due to a lack of necessary oxygen and stifled blood flow that Steelix's tail was cutting off from him—a fatal hindrance to any Psychic-Type techniques.

"(How…did…I…surrender myself…into…Giovanni's Pokémon…trap…?)" Lucario thought with a tone that wasn't a question. "(I…heard…something _else_…in…front…of me… I…know it…!)" His thoughts, as well as his brain, were succumbing to oxygenic starvation, so he knew that he had little time left until he was reluctantly at Giovanni's mercy.

He didn't like the fact that he was slowly being enervated to unconsciousness at all, and he didn't like how it felt as equally. He could slowly feel his heartbeat increase in strength, not from excessive work, but because he was being encompassed tightly enough to have his chest-spike press onto his sternum. His head felt as if it was only half-full of his own blood, and his eyes were bulging somewhat out of proportion from Steelix's grip.

The hostile Pokémon decided to expose itself and, as if it were a reanimated corpse buried into the dirt, rose with a wide arc and a low-pitched, earth-rumbling roar—a metaphor for its secondary Ground-Type attribute. It moved its head closer to the helpless Aura Pokémon, eyeing it with a horrible look on its face. It breathed on him with an atrocious scent in its breath, not that Lucario was able to smell it currently due to gradual suffocation, and an intimidating growl that would make a human easily empty the contents of their bowels.

Lucario equally eyed it—and hated this Pokémon because it had abated him to nothing—but lacked the power currently to even _form_ a hateful countenance. He _knew_ the instant that he would fall unconscious, he would immediately be in possession by Giovanni, and would wake up soon after, working disrespectfully for him.

"_D…d…d…d…da…_" Lucario could barely speak even with telepathy, since he was so starved of oxygen that he would blackout at any moment now.

Giovanni grinned maliciously, eyeing the suppressed Aura Pokémon with a sense of eagerness. He was already beginning to visualize in his dark mind what he could accomplish with him in his organization's possession.

And they all have one thing in common: inevitable global domination.

Lucario averted his eyes from the facially-monstrous Steelix and stared on at Giovanni for as long as his remaining moments of consciousness allowed him to. His lungs were shrinking in terms of use, and his heart was weakening.

"(Damn you, Giovanni! Damn you, Steelix!)" Was just one of the two thoughts that he desperately wanted to muster the strength to think. The second of the two thoughts was "(Who was burrowing underground in front of me?)"

"_D…d…_" The assorted colors currently observable by his failing eyes were grudgingly blending together to form black only, just like the aftermath of defeating Absol over thirteen years ago.

"(You belong to me now, Aura Pokémon…)" Giovanni thought sinisterly and with a grin to match his tone of thoughts.

Lucario finally lost the ability to stay alert and conscious. His eyes simply closed, without his neck going limp since Steelix's coils were too secure and too tight. He stopped breathing, and his heart was hardly beating once every _other_ second, the only thing keeping him alive. His weight also increased by 2000%—a defensive mechanism of the Steel-Type Pokémon—which didn't seem to add any effort to the Steelix that was currently wrapping it.

Steelix, sensing that its victim had fallen unconscious, opened wide its massive jaws, exposing a fleshy interior in the process. It raised its tail, without moving Lucario in any different direction or angle, and lowered its head simultaneously to begin to _devour_ Lucario.

Giovanni however, didn't want that to happen, since he recognized Lucario's potential. He didn't want Lucario to naturally become food and have this chance disappear before his eyes.

And so, with great haste, Giovanni raised Steelix's Heavy Ball and aimed its center point towards its large and rugged head. Automatically, the Heavy Ball fired a red laser that made contact with Steelix's head, and harmlessly converted its respective Pokémon into absolute red energy, before assimilating it into the Heavy Ball through that same center point. The Heavy Ball had to open up though, because the Pokémon that it is returning is massive, and therefore had more energy to assimilate.

Lucario, being in mid-air and having nothing to support him, fell to the earth with a fairly loud thud. However, he didn't fall face-flat onto the dirt below. Strangely, he fell to the dirt, and remained in a position that's the equivalent of someone sitting on the floor by sitting on their legs. Stranger _still_, he didn't fall over afterwards. He simply had his head tilted down, as if he was staring at the dirt, but with closed eyes.

Giovanni stared at the Heavy Ball that contained Steelix and felt a moderate amount of disappointment for it. "(You're still too feral for designated objective use,)" Giovanni thought to himself, looking away at the Heavy Ball. He pressed the button on its center to shrink it to pocket-size and then placed it away in the same left inner jacket pocket.

From his _right_ inner jacket pocket, he pulled out yet another _different_ model of a Poké Ball. This one in particular was custom made by Team Rocket, and intended to have a higher catch rate than any other Poké Ball commercially available to the public—except the Master Ball, which catches Pokémon _without_ fail.

To the Team Rocket organization, it was simply referred to as "Team Rocket's Poké Ball", as possessive—and unimaginative—as it sounds. It is identifiable by its black top half, red bottom half, white centerline, and big red "R" above the white button on the center. It is a Poké Ball that only higher-ranking members of Team Rocket may possess.

Not choosing to waste any time, since Lucario could still wake up at any moment, Giovanni quickly pressed the center button of "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" and then threw it with skills emulated from professional baseball pitchers—once again, without the gestures.

The "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" rocketed out of his hand, spun itself into a red and black blur across its side axis, and then struck Lucario on his right temple with such force to the head that it did two things to him: it drew blood from the right side of his head, and it actually toppled him over to his left side, causing the earth to rumble mildly.

"Team Rocket's Poké Ball" hung in mid-air long enough for it to open and the Pokémon it struck quickly transformed into pure red energy before becoming assimilated into it. Still defying the laws of gravity, "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" closed and then flew back towards Giovanni's right hand.

From there, it began to rattle from side to side, with tapping sounds echoing from the inside, and the center button flashing red every second.

Giovanni ogled "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" (as well as all of the Rocket Grunts), with a sense of confidence. He truly believed that Lucario had been subdued enough to _not_ resist capture. Seconds went by, and all throughout that time, Giovanni never stopped grinning or had second thoughts that contradicted his goals.

Against Lucario's wishes, "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" _stopped_ rattling and flashing red altogether, having the center button's red flashing light fade to nothing and a futuristic electronic sealing sound rung briefly in the air.

"(You're all mine now)," Giovanni thought, feeling rather content with himself. The Rocket Grunts breathed sighs of relief. Giovanni pressed the center button of "Team Rocket's Poké Ball", shrinking it to ping-pong ball size and placed it away in his right inner jacket pocket.

With this mission of the forest complete, Giovanni proceeded to his respective helicopter, with the Grunts following close by.

They all entered their respective helicopters. The engines began to start as soon as everyone was inside them. After a few seconds, all four helicopters began to hover above the floor, leaving circular indentations across the dirt below and blowing much of the dirt into the air. After a few _more_ seconds, the helicopters have already escalated higher than any tree in the current area. Within one minute since the helicopters were on standby, they were beginning to return to HQ, along with Wanderer and Lucario inside their respective Poké Balls.

The group of four helicopters had passed by the area where the conflagration occurred. Every single person noticed, from within the hovering metal vessels, the mercilessly-slaughtered and mutilated corpses of both the second group of sixteen Team Rocket Grunts and their Fire-Type Pokémon, as well as the burning remains of the fallen four helicopters as well, and they questioned what could've possibly done this malicious action.

They didn't seem too concerned of the burned down tree—that was once Sceptile's tree house—, or the mid-sized crater—where Sceptile and Tiny were last seen before detonation—left in the center of it.

"Giovanni, sir…" One concerned Grunt, sharing the same helicopter with Giovanni, spoke to him with a low, slow, and concerned tone. "What do you think could've caused that to them all?"

Giovanni continued to look out of a nearby window, with dropped eyebrows and a ponderous countenance. A short amount of time went by until a concise phrase came out of Giovanni's mouth: "I have no idea."

He had absolutely no clue as to what could've done such a gruesome endeavor. He wasn't even aware that the answer to the Grunt's question was currently residing within "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" that is, as of now, within Giovanni's right inner jacket pocket.

All four helicopters hovered away from the disturbing sight and flew away from the forest altogether within minutes, intending to reach their HQ within a few hours. There was no longer a chance of stopping them, especially when the four helicopters were optically impossible to see from the farthest edges of the forest.

As for the odd event involving Lucario trying to locate the enemy Steelix from below the earth, only to end up tuned in to the wrong target… The second target that Lucario identified against his intentions could be heard burrowing under the earth where Lucario was captured.

If Lucario were still around that area, still listening satisfactorily for Steelix's location, he would notice the sounds of the burrowing drawing closer to the surface. Within seconds, he would notice the source of that burrowing. He would notice a green forearm, topped with two short clawed fingers and a short clawed thumb. That same forearm would have two long leaf-like blades on the side of the arm that doesn't have a thumb on it. It would all be marred with serious burns and moderate lacerations.

All of this would seem somewhat nostalgic to him, especially if that forearm was unmarred.

* * *

><p>"Everyone dies. Everyone leaves. What matters is the things you build together before they go. What matters is the part of them that continues in you when they're gone." —Orson Scott Card (195) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

* * *

><p>Looks like Lucario has gotten himself into a sticky situation. How will he get out of it?<p>

After submitting this chapter, I took it upon myself to create a section in my profile, detailing Lucario's growing move set and abilities. This will also apply to other Pokemon who've fought enough times.

Also, I've added a table of contents/song references/end quotes section to the beginning of my profile page, in case anyone is interested.

About the song choice...

It's not the _best_ Kingdom Hearts song, I'll admit. There are dozens of better ones on the list that I could use (and WILL use...in time). Still, the songs I use help amplify the mood that I set in my FanFic.

Finally, please take it upon yourselves to leve feedback about my FanFic. I would really like to know your opinions on my work.

So far, only Kalakar has done so, and I thank you for that.


	7. Chapter I (1)

My first _official_ chapter, kicking off the story after what the six prologue chapters did to set it up.

You all should probably know this: I was in the hospital for over a week for a collapsed lung. I had a chest tube inserted into my right lung, and I even had surgery done to clip off a fraction of the top right lobe of my lung, one where air sacs called "blebs" continued to pop over time.

During my stay there, I wasn't able to write as much as I would want. I was only able to revise what I had. And what I have is most of this story, about thirteen chapters _ahead_ of this, almost finishing up my first story.

Now, as I'm recovering, I'm able to write normally. I'm able to write further ahead to what I have.

You all should know the drill by now. I say how many hits I have listed (about 429), I say that you should check my profile for links to new songs I have posted for this chapter (two songs: a battle theme from _Kingdom Hearts_ and an opening instrumental from Linkin Park), and that you should please leave a review, telling me your opinion on this chapter.

Finally, since I'm starting the chapters officially, I added _subchapters_ into the mix, so that whatever is going on in my story is better introduced.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter I (1): The Beginning of Something Unorthodox<strong>

From where we last left off with Costas, Ian, and Yours Truly, we were under the torturous mercy of Roman Soldiers, whom somehow knew of my latest invention: the S1-GS device.

They whipped us three for answers on how to get it from a security system that I placed the S1-GS device in, and I ended up with most of the skin of my back whipped away. I told them nothing, and we all had to wait three days for the arrival of the Roman General, Mercury.

He had us all crucified and expected to die when they finally out-smarted the security system and retrieved the item of their objective. They proceeded to destroying my home village, with their mission guaranteed as complete.

In spite of this, a miracle occurred.

I was suddenly blessed with incredible Elemental Aura powers and used them to brutally decimate the entire Roman Army of its 999 soldiers.

One soldier remained afterward: the Roman General Mercury.

I interrogated _him_ for answers for a change and asked him if he killed my parents. To my surprise, he had nothing to do with my parents, yet continued to admit that he'd killed them when I asked him corresponding questions.

I let him go and as I proceeded to return to my home, I realized that the villagers now feared me for my power. A riot would ensure, in attempt to drive me out, if I decided to remain here.

I was forced to make a life-changing decision: leave the village.

Leave the village…_alone_.

* * *

><p><em><span>7.1: The Unfortunate Departure<span>_

Location: Village (My Home)

Date: May 2nd, 49 A.D.

Time: 2:00 PM

After the hug that my brothers and I had together before my departure, we all proceeded up the stairs within my laboratory. As I climbed higher and higher on the stairs, I could feel my heart sink lower and lower with each and every step because I knew that once I leave my home, there will be no turning back and I'll have to leave against my will.

I began to think of my options here, as my brothers and I ascended the staircases.

If I choose to _not_ leave, a village riot will be guaranteed, and there will be a chance that my brothers and I would have our lives placed in jeopardy. And if I _do_ choose to leave, then I'll have a very strong chance of never being allowed to return to my home village again, and therefore become banished.

…Banished as a solitary teenager.

However, if I _do_ leave, then I'll be free to search for the answers that are presently troubling me. I'll be free to find out, to the best of my ability, how I got such a herculean I.Q., how I obtained my newfound Elemental Aura abilities—which gave me a second network of veins on my body as well as changing eye color—, and who _truly_ killed my family.

My only worry is that I won't live long enough to search for such scattered answers.

"(What am I to do?)" I thought about my choice of actions. My head was tilted down and I was staring at the stairs that I was overcoming, being precarious as to not trip over from being submerged in my thoughts.

Soon after, all three of us got out of my secret laboratory and were now in my room of the house. I froze just before leaving through the entrance of my room, because when I do, my choice will be made for me when I continue to proceed onward.

And it'll likely be made for me immediately.

Costas and Ian stared on at my stagnant backside, questioning why I remained stationary.

"Eduardo?" Ian inquired me with a concerned tone.

"…" I remained silent, with too many outcomes branching out from my two choices within my head, all leading to numerous possible outcomes.

"What do you think is the best choice of action?"

"Whatever you decide, we'll accept it without second thought," Costas jumped in to the conversation.

"…" I remained silent for a solid minute, and only had this to say before stepping out of the entrance, accepting my fatalistic fate. "_I_ don't have a choice of my own. My neighbors have already chosen for me."

Costas and Ian knew what I meant with that response and knew that I wouldn't be around for much longer. And instead of accepting that with tears, they just followed me, so as to not miss out on the last moment of my existence around them.

I continued onward towards the entrance of the house, stopping only when I got to the kitchen. I checked what I had currently with me and reviewed it. I had on me a white shirt with a white vest underneath, blue jeans with white boxers underneath, and monochrome shoes with white socks that stretch up high enough to conceal my ankles.

To add to all of that, I also had with me my S1-GS device—and all of its assimilated contents—strapped to my right side with the holster/shoulder strap that I made a few days ago.

"(Independent survival won't be my biggest worry when I leave this village,)" I soliloquized mentally before stepping in front of the door that would exit me from my house, as well as this entire village.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Village (Home Entrance)<span>

Time: 2:10 PM

_Opening/Reanimation 2/Linkin Park_

_(Song Begins)_

The very instant that I opened the door that would decide my future, my future was decided for me by the villagers, as I expected. Those same villagers that I've somehow mentally accepted and considered as neighbors were now the definitive antithesis of my acceptance.

They were now my enemies.

Nearby the intact houses—and within the _semi_-intact houses—, the villagers were _arming_ themselves with weaponry, salvaged straight from the Red Sea, where sharks stripped Roman soldier flesh down to the bone. They were sharpening their newly-acquired bladed weaponry with earthbound rolling stones on moving wheels. Every villager was giving it their all in preparing themselves for a riot to try to drive me out of the village, or kill me.

They haven't noticed my presence at the entrance to the house yet. "(They must _truly_ fear me now if they've resorted to _Roman_ weaponry…)" I thought with slight despair and a significant amount of dread at how quickly these people had turned for the worst before my eyes.

Costas and Ian were inside of the house, behind me. They were seeing enough through the windows, and finding it incredibly difficult to analyze all of this sudden malice in one sitting.

Not much time passed before I was spotted. It was especially easy for someone to notice my presence because I was standing still and didn't move an inch—not that it would matter if they saw me sooner than later because the villagers were _seriously_ preparing in getting rid of me.

"(Oh shit…)" I noticed the villager that noticed me and felt my heart sink like a stone.

"He's over there, out in the open!" that villager alerted his adjacent neighbors nearby. "Kill him!"

The villagers alerted by that one solitary bee sting alerted others nearby them. Within seconds, every villager was alerted of my presence. They all proceeded with what they planned on doing with me, and that was to either kill me or to drive me out of their village and never return.

I saw them all coming with swords, knives, and spears in hand, a stampede of my neighbors charging territorially towards me.

Despite their sudden change in sides, I didn't choose to fight them because they never meant any harm to me and were always neutral at my presence. Instead, I chose to activate my Orange (Melee) Aura and run away at a far superior speed than the villagers could follow behind.

"Good-bye Costas and Ian. I doubt we'll meet again," I said quickly to my brothers, almost slurring the words, before running like hell towards the direction of the sun—west, because the sun always rises east and sets west. And with the power of my Orange (Melee) Aura emanating all across my body, I was running at _triple_ the speed of any human being alive.

All of the villagers stupidly followed me in hot pursuit, thinking that I'll run out of steam eventually and they can kill me then. However, because of my willpower to keep running, fueling the surplus of endurance that I have, they lost steam after a mile of chase, and I continued onward across the desert that bordered the Red Sea's coast.

All of the villagers caught their breath after stopping to rest. They noticed my location due to the light that my Orange (Melee) Aura was emanating and saw that I was long gone and away from their village. They knew that I got their message and simply returned to their homes, cheering afterward from their alleged "accomplishment".

As for me, I stopped after thirty minutes of constant running and did an about-face to see what was occurring behind me. I couldn't see the villagers chasing me anymore, and I sure as _hell_ couldn't see my home village over the horizon.

With no one at my tail anymore, I felt free to turn off my Orange (Melee) Aura and was now left with one main choice: to wander across the world and search for the answers that I needed.

"(Where do I begin…)" I pondered my options as to where to begin to get the answers that I desired, with a seemingly uncaring facade for a countenance. I walked onward towards the sun's direction, letting my feet and my natural instincts take me to where I was heading, and not my technology.

And with that, my vague journey begins now.

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><em><span>7.2: The Enemy's Home Turf<span>_

Location: Rome, Italy

Date: July 2nd, 49 A.D.

Estimated Time: Noon

Mercury, the Roman General, has succeeded in arriving back to Rome after two months of _combined_ land and sea travel, where he was only traveling by foot and by boat that I tentatively made for him when I realized that he didn't _truly_ kill my parents.

The first task that he had to do when he came back to Rome was head into the Emperor's extravagant palace and report what occurred in the mission assigned to him. Once he had arrived within the palace, he entered within it and proceeded towards the Throne Room. All that he had to do to find the Throne Room was to pass through a room that has the only entrance to the Throne Room, and that room is the Emperor Room.

The Emperor Room, which Mercury was passing by currently to get to the Throne Room, is a massive Hall-of-Fame style, circular-shaped room with dozens of blank areas meant to have statues or identifiable mementos of the previous—and _current_—Roman Emperors.

At this moment, it only has four mementos of Roman Emperors, with the last memento originating from the current Roman Emperor, Claudius.

Mercury stopped at the center of the Emperor Room, feeling the need to visualize the four Roman Emperor mementos and ponder slightly at them before returning to his current objective.

He looked at every one of the mementos in order of when they came to power: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius—the current Roman Emperor. They were all lined up against the circular wall, pointed in a clockwise direction, like a clock, organized by both order of reign and time reigned—dictated by plaques that resided on the podiums of the statues.

The very first Roman Emperor, Augustus, took power on January 16th, 27 B.C. to August 19th, 14 A.D. Tiberius, superseding him, reigned from September 18th, 14 A.D. to March 16th, 37 A.D. Caligula, taking over as the third Roman Emperor, ruled from March 18th, 37 A.D. to January 24th, 41 A.D. Finally, the current Roman Emperor, Claudius, began his reign recently. His rule began on January 25th, 41 A.D.

"(I don't think I'll live long enough to see a seventh memento in this palace's Emperor Room,)" Mercury thought to himself, calculating the average age of rule between all four Roman Emperors—which is about seventeen-and-a-half years once he did his arithmetic.

He continues onward towards the Throne Room after stopping briefly to ponder. Once at the Throne Room, Mercury noticed two Roman Guards with javelins in hand, standing on guard. They were ordered to keep commoners outside, and to step aside when given identification.

Mercury approached the Roman Guards by walking across the luxurious long red carpet. His path was instantly cut off when both guards crossed their javelins in the shape of the letter "X", halting him in his tracks.

"State your name…" The Roman Guard on the left demanded.

"…your occupation…" The Roman Guard on the right continued.

"…your task with his Highness..." The Roman Guard on the left continued.

"…and our slogan…" The Roman Guard on the right concluded.

Mercury knew that he would be demanded this when he approached the Roman Emperor. Nevertheless, he knew all of this by heart and answered the Roman Guards.

"Mercury, Roman General, here to discuss the results of my assigned mission, and 'Veni, Vidi, Vici'." Mercury gave them the answers that they wanted, and in sequential order.

(By the way, "Veni, Vidi, Vici" is Latin for "I came, I saw, I conquered", in case you didn't know.)

"You may proceed," both guards said simultaneously as they uncrossed their javelins and stepped away from each other, so as to allow Mercury to pass.

Mercury nodded at both of them before proceeding across the long red carpet. He walked a solid seventy-five feet before stopping when he noticed Roman Emperor Claudius in front of him.

From Mercury's standpoint, he was seeing Claudius on his fastidiously-detailed throne, sitting high and mighty as any Roman Emperor would. However, there was so little light in Claudius's particular area that Mercury could only see a silhouette-like shadow of his Highness. However, he could still identify a chalice of wine held on Claudius's right hand, where the stem of the handle was between the middle finger and ring finger.

"You're Highness," Mercury said respectfully, and then he showed his respect by kneeling on his right knee, planting his right fist on the floor beside his right knee, and placing his left arm to rest on his left knee. He lowered his head so he could see the red carpet that he crossed to get here. He also kept this position until told otherwise by the Roman Emperor, which wasn't for too long.

"You're free to stand up," Claudius said in delayed response to Mercury bowing down to him.

Mercury loyally did what he was ordered to do.

"So tell me," Claudius continued, without moving an inch. "What occurred in your assigned mission?"

Mercury only needed seconds to recall all of what occurred two months ago, especially since what he had experienced was near impossible to forget. Mercury began by recalling how he traveled to the village, and the rest was straightforward to share in words.

"A legion of 999 soldiers under my command arrived to a halcyon, remote village, where you told us that an item of infinite storage resided. We found three unusual boys of about sixteen years of age guarding that device. One of the three boys we were able to identify as Eduardo."

Claudius continued listening, occasionally getting a small sip of the wine in his chalice.

"All three of them wouldn't relinquish that device to us, especially after Eduardo succumbed to _superhuman_ levels of blood loss from our methods of torture. Eventually though, I got my hands on that mystical device of his, and I finally came to the decision of crucifying all three of them onto wooden stakes, while my legion disposed of the village with their heavy artillery."

"What happened next?" Claudius wanted to hear the end results of this.

Mercury had to say this final bit of information to the Roman Emperor—tentatively if he had to—, especially because it was the entire turning point of the mission.

"Eduardo became absolutely _monstrous_ in power. He emanated excess…aura…" Mercury made a hand gesture that encircled across his whole body, "…and used it to create fire, lift objects without so much as _touching_ them, and more. He saved his two friends, had me knocked out cold and nailed onto the same wooden stake that I intended those three to die on. He took back his device from me with force and _single-handedly killed_ my legion, transparent to the injuries that I noticed he sustained from my army's attacks."

Claudius analyzed the information told to him without great nonchalance. "Do you still remember the letter you wrote to him three years ago?" He said without shock.

"You mean the one where you ordered me to allegedly claim that I killed his parents?" Mercury recalled the letter easily.

Claudius simply nodded, remaining stagnant on his throne.

"Yes, I remember that letter, and I _myself_ was almost killed when I confronted him and he recognized me by name alone." Mercury then pointed out the wounds he sustained on his right eye—or _lack_ of—and the holes on the palms of his hands and the holes on his feet. "He could've killed me vindictively, but he somehow bypassed my lie about killing his family."

"How did he realize your lie?" Claudius was curious to this particular bit of information.

"I'm assuming he sensed it when I was panicking at dying by his hands," Mercury felt no loss of dignity when he was under my choice of keeping or losing his life, nor did he feel as if he was acting against orders—because he never was.

"So what's your conclusion on your assigned mission?" Claudius asked this question, with the answer already known.

"The mission was a failure," Mercury's decision was unanimous. "I failed with the main objective of retrieving the device, and lost my entire legion, when Eduardo dumped them into the water and fed them to the sharks."

"I see…" Claudius understood the reasons for Mercury's decision and felt as if he has heard enough information from a failed mission.

"May I say a few things?" Mercury realized something and wanted answers.

"You may," Claudius concisely responded.

"Where'd you get information on Eduardo's device from?" Mercury wondered.

"…I have my sources," Claudius said vaguely, pausing to revolve the wine in his chalice.

Mercury didn't say anything else otherwise relating to that information. Instead, he awaited further orders, like the loyal subordinate that he is. "What are your next orders for me?" Mercury said faithfully.

Claudius gave little thought to Mercury's next choice of action, "You should go to the sanatorium and get yourself properly medicated for your injuries."

"Thank you, you're Highness," Mercury said, bowing down respectfully to his superior once more, and then exited the Throne Room to go to Rome's sanatorium.

The Roman Emperor Claudius was left alone on his throne, with the only sounds audible emanating from the feeble gusts of wind that found their way within the palace. However, a few seconds after, a sound was audible, and that sound was faint cackling from Claudius.

"That mission was no failure. The S1-GS device was only a decoy for a more favorable objective." Claudius soliloquized and smirked slightly, before drinking the remainder of his wine and placing the empty chalice on the floor. "Eduardo has begun to awaken his long dormant powers."

It was only then that something unusual can be identified from Claudius. From within his eyes, existed something incredibly abnormal.

Both of his eye sockets had _two_ irises in one.

"My plan, it's coming together accordingly," Claudius soliloquized sinisterly.

* * *

><p><em><span>7.3: A Fight with Fiction<span>_

Location: 28°N, 34°E

Date: September 6th, 50 A.D.

Time: 6:06 PM

Eduardo's Age: 17 years, 8 months, 5 days

I've spent more than a year traveling across the world, seeing multiple extraordinary sights along my travels, coming across multiple items as well—which I've stored away within my S1-GS device.

I was currently looking for a good place to rest for the night, and for some reason, I now found myself lost and unable to accurately pinpoint my current location.

I spent a few more minutes walking across the unknown area that I was in at the moment, a wide open field with assorted hills and shallow, sandy dunes. During this time, I reviewed how much my Elemental Aura abilities have matured, as well as any helpful characteristics that can aid or harm me as well, that I've discovered during this time.

I recalled how my aura, though plentiful and powerful, is _finite_ and does need time to recharge. It doesn't need a _lot_ of time to recharge fully—usually in a few minutes under normal conditions—but it does recharge nevertheless.

Also, I've learned how to have my aura emanate from _specific_ areas on my body, such as my hands and feet, so as to maximize efficiency without excessive use by having myself glow _all over_ my body. To further maximize the partial Elemental Aura use, I've also learned how to use two or more _different_ elemental aura abilities simultaneously.

I've even learned a few new Elemental Aura abilities in particular: Brown (Earth) Aura, Light Green (Wind) Aura, and Dark Green (Nature) Aura.

_**POWER SO STALWART THAT IT SHAKES THE GROUND BENEATH YOU!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**BROWN (EARTH) AURA**__**!**_

_**TERRA-KINESIS**__** UNLOCKED!**_

_**BLOW YOUR SURROUNDINGS AWAY WITH A GALE OF UNIMAGINABLE FORCE!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**LIGHT GREEN (WIND) AURA**__**!**_

_**AERO-KINESIS**__** UNLOCKED!**_

_**THE POWER OF NATURE TO TERRORIZE YOUR FOES!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**DARK GREEN (NATURE) AURA**__**!**_

_**FOLIO-KINESIS**__** UNLOCKED!**_

"(How far do these Elemental Aura powers go in terms of stalwartness…)" I thought to myself with every new characteristic added to its repertoire.

Now I thought about my current journey and the answers that I've been searching for. I thought about the two things that I wanted answers to: the characteristics that set me apart from normality—my 10,000 I.Q., my Elemental Aura, etc.—and the person(s) responsible for my parent's death.

So far, I've found no answers or guides along my travels. The only thing that I did find was widespread news about me. To whichever city that I went throughout my travels, I was instantly recognized as two things only: a god or a devil.

When recognized as a god, I was treated like a celebrity, or even a savior. I was given numerous items, such as weaponry, armor, and jewelry, as offerings to myself—which I appreciated and took as my own, some of the items being forced onto me.

When recognized as a devil, I received much the same treatment that I received when I was about to leave the village. I was the target of riots, hunters, and even assassins—all of which were itching to kill me. However, try as they might, they never managed to kill me, despite numerous encounters with these professional killers.

I was beginning to doubt if I _could_ die, since I seem to survive some severe, life-threatening trauma. I've had the skin of my back whipped off—and the valley of repulsive scars to prove it. I've been nailed to a wooden stake by my hands and feet—with a second collection of skin-surface veins on my hands and feet forming and encircling the area where the nail used to be. And I've even been shot in the stomach with a Ballista round and had six swords stabbed onto my back.

This added to my list of pseudo-normality.

"(Am I able to die?)" I pondered this question like a broken track record in my head.

A few more minutes later of walking, I found myself on a small hill, with a large solitary tree on the top. Along with the sunset of this evening, I felt as though this was the perfect place to rest for the night.

Once I was on top of the hill, I felt like checking my current position on this world. I used a brand new trinket of mine, which I classified as the S2-PTSDO device—The "PTSDO" part of "S2-PTSDO" is an acronym, standing for "Portable Two Screen Digital Omni-computer". This was the second of my "S-Rank" inventions, and just like the S1-GS device on me, it is superior in its functions and use.

When manufacturing this complicated piece of hardware a while ago, I recalled how Costas and Ian would want me to give the S2-PTSDO a nickname—if they _were_ here albeit. I did give it a simple nickname though: "Different System", because of how _different_ it is to anything else in this time period, or what I've manufactured.

To describe the design of the S2-PTSDO briefly, I saw it in a dream. (No surprises there…) And within my dream, I saw this same type of device announced in a large, luminous room, with tons of people inside. I saw one man in particular proclaim this handheld system, the "Nintendo DS" as it was called, and the design alone inspired me to create the S2-PTSDO device.

I don't know what this "Nintendo DS" was originally intended to do because I woke up soon after.

What the S2-PTSDO device _is_—if put simply enough—, is a powerful "omni-computer" that easily goes above and beyond the computers and technological devices that exist in the modern day. It's overall more superior than 100,000 supercomputers _combined_—thanks to the elaborate circuitry of nanotech within it—and is small enough to fit in the pocket of your pants—but I don't keep it there. It runs on self-recharging batteries, so power isn't an issue in this time period, and is equally made of the same indestructible and versatile shell as that of the S1-GS device, as well as the two internal screens and complicated internal circuitry.

Its basic form of operation is through the touch screen that's on the bottom of the two screens. However, voice activation is an acceptable substitute.

I can also create new programs for it in the form of chips, as well as new appearances for it—possible with built-in interchangeable technology—with the slightly larger chips. (The Nintendo DS's Game Cards and Nintendo GBA's Game Cartridges are the real-world equivalents of these two chips.)

The S2-PTSDO device is currently, strange as it seems, in a _prototype_ state. It's actually a highly complicated work of machinery, even by _my_ standards, that _still_ needs some refining, updating, fine tuning, and _evolving_ especially. I'm able to add new programs to the S2-PTSDO device _itself_ instead of to the chips that it reads, but that would involve an excessive amount of work that only gets little results, like building a deck of cards during an earthquake.

Overall, I'd say that it's an _extremely_ reliable tool in my arsenal, but I need to repair its few remaining flaws within it. I need to alter the overall programming to have the S2-PTSDO device _not_ need the chips anymore—mostly by intending to have it analyze and duplicate data perfectly and use it at my will. I also need to create a few more methods of operation to it instead of touch screen and voice activation. Finally, as an added touch, I should create a program to allow it to link with other devices, and have it manipulate them, store their data, or assimilate their information and function, so as to have a universal device that can do virtually _everything_, emphasizing the "Omni-computer" part of the device's name.

It just can't download the function of the S1-GS device because that exotic device isn't _completely_ technological.

I'd say that I'm close to overcoming all of these flaws, though.

I also have manufactured a second holster/shoulder strap for it as well—just like for the S1-GS device—, for easier convenience of utilizing the S2-PTSDO device, as well as the chips that unlock its potential.

It looks just like the holster/shoulder strap for the S1-GS device, but it has three main changes to it. Firstly, it has enough storage space within the torso section of the holster/shoulder strap that I can conveniently store dozens of the chips that I've made for quick use. Secondly, the holster for the S2-PTSDO device is horizontal, rectangular, and comfortably holds it for quick use. Thirdly, I have it strapped in the _opposite_ manner of the S1-GS device.

The S1-GS device's holster/shoulder strap is strapped from my left shoulder to my _right_ side, while the holster/shoulder strap for my S2-PTSDO device is strapped from my right shoulder to my _left_ side. The belts from both of them purposefully connect together, so two different belts _halves_ make one _whole_ belt.

"(It shouldn't take much longer for you to become the device that I always intended you to be,)" I thought about the S2-PTSDO device while navigating through its immense listings of different and organized functions, and eventually setting it for the GPS mode.

I took the two corresponding chips, one small and one large, from the holster/shoulder strap respective to my S2-PTSDO device and inserted them in the appropriate slots on my device. Within an instant, the S2-PTSDO device began to _transform_, having its individual parts move and change shape in the process.

In little time, I held in my hands, a GPS device on steroids…_nanotech_ steroids. All that the S2-PTSDO device was now is a round piece of tech with a round touch-operated screen on the surface, with everything that a GPS unit possesses, and a setting on it that allows it to revert back to basic form.

Using my finger_nail_—so as to not smudge the screen with my fingerprints—, I tapped the screen where needed to get myself to a mode where a computerized image of the whole world was viewable on the screen. The device emitted powerful, inaudible, low-frequency sound waves that stretched for dozens of miles across the surroundings—similar to what elephants do—, using sensitive equipment to detect where the sounds traveled and reflected off of, creating a detailed image of the world around me.

"(Where am I now, Different System?)" I thought before tapping the icon where the S2-PTSDO device would pinpoint its current location, as well as the location of the person _holding_ the device.

"…28°N…34°E…" The S2-PTSDO quickly concluded on my current location, and then zoomed in on the area of land nearby me within a 1000km radius. A red target mark appeared on the precise location of the coordinates given.

I was on the bottom tip of a triangle-shaped peninsula, one which connected Egypt and Saudi Arabia together.

"…" I chose to sit down about thirty feet away from the tree, eyeing the screen's image dubiously.

I knew that the S2-PTSDO device wasn't malfunctioning—mostly because _I built it_. I was just questioning myself as to _how_ I got here, to the point where I had to simply walk across the coastline to get back home after more than a year of banishment.

"(How'd I end up nearby my village, of all places…)" I thought while setting the S2-PTSDO device to revert back to its clamshell, two-screen appearance, and then removing the chips before placing all three units back in their respective places.

I pulled out the S1-GS device from my right holster and then demanded a Starf Berry—my favorite Berry—and a cutting knife. All I had to do now was turn the button upside down, press the button on the device's center and then I had both items come out in an instant. I put the S1-GS device away and retrieved my selected items.

And as I proceeded to cut a slice of Starf Berry, I heard a low growling sound nearby me.

I paused before cutting the Starf Berry. "(Damn…)" I thought, "(I must _really_ be hungry.)"

Once more, I was about to cut a slice of the Starf Berry when I heard that same growling sound once more, and it was only then that I realized two things: I wasn't hungry to the point of my stomach growling at me and threatening me to feed it, and the growling was coming from my _right side_.

Looking to my right side, I noticed an unusual little creature adjacent to me, a creature that could only be found around the areas of Central America, Mexico, and northern South America. It was a mid-sized green lizard with small spines protruding down its backline, and noticeably large-sized scales on its lower jaws.

It was a green iguana.

_**(From baby to adult, the green iguana can grow from 1' to 7' in length, with two-thirds of their length placed mostly on their tails. They reside in warmer, somewhat tropical areas from Mexico to South America, and are almost completely herbivorous. They are commonly **_**eaten**_** in their habitat by people, and yet they are also the most popular lizard that is kept as a pet.)**_

"What are _you_ doing here?" I said to it, pondering how a green iguana was residing in this area and not Mexico or South America.

It continued growling at me, and seemed to take an obvious interest to the Starf Berry that I was holding in my hand.

I could tell by its interest to the Starf Berry in my hand that it was hungry. Since I had _more_ than enough food in my S1-GS device—as well as a deep admiration to both animals and nature—, I decided to give it the Starf Berry. "You must be starving if you're residing within that tiny tree behind me," I said to it before holding the Starf Berry nearby its face.

Slowly, but without fear or second thoughts, the green iguana stopped growling and gently grabbed the Starf Berry with its mouth. It set the Starf Berry down on the ground immediately, not deciding to move from its current location. It placed its nose on the unusual fruit, sniffed it briefly, licked at it for about ten seconds, and then began to nibble at it.

"You've never had a Berry like that before," I said when the iguana began to eat the Starf Berry. "And I should know, because I've gene-spliced that Berry in my old laboratory."

I continued to watch the iguana eat the Starf Berry in little bites. It took that iguana about a minute to finally finish eating the Starf Berry I gave it, and then it looked back at me, growling at me for seconds.

I could tell that it wasn't growling in an aggressive manner, but in a _begging_ manner. "Do you want another one?" I said to the hungry green lizard.

It continued growling at me for another Starf Berry.

Since I was still holding the cutting knife in my hand, I placed it briefly on the "X" that my shoulder straps were forming, and then I retrieved the S1-GS device once more. As I was about to request another Starf Berry for my green scaly friend beside me, _more_ green iguanas appeared in front of me.

Now there were five of them, and two of them clung onto the fabric of the clothing on my back with its sharp claws. They were all eager for the Berry fruit that I had to offer, and not _just_ the green iguanas.

As I was about to order more Berries for the five green iguanas, five _more_ animals showed up for the feast, and these five were able to fly. They had white feathers, were mid-sized, and had crests on the tops of their heads that change in position with its mood.

These five other animals were white cockatoos, parrots that are exclusive to Australia.

_**(White Cockatoos are native to Australia, as well as other species of popular domesticated parrots, such as cockatiels and budgerigars. White cockatoos are favored as pets for their proficient ability to "talk", as well as their longevity and personality.)**_

Before I knew it, I had three white cockatoos on me, one on each of my shoulders, and one on my head. Two more were right beside me, perched on some nonchalant green iguanas. They all seemed really eager for whatever Berries that I had to feed them, and I had an extensive surplus of them.

"…" Now I had to change my ordering plan again, but I didn't mind because I had a tendency to grow more Berries than I could devour within the S1-GS device. "S1-GS withdrawal: a straw basket, filled to the brim with assorted Berries."

I pressed the center button of the S1-GS device and held it upside down once open. The straw basket was the first item to come out, as I ordered it to, and then numerous assorted Berries came out in tandem. I closed the S1-GS once the basket was full of assorted Berries and then placed the device away in my right holster. I quickly placed the basket of assorted Berries on my lap, and then the ten exotic animals nearby me began to devour the fruit happily.

I retrieved the cutting knife on me and grabbed one of the oversized Berries that they would have difficulty biting off, such as the Watmel Berry. I fed sliced bits of it to whichever animal nearby desired a piece of it. Half of each lizard and bird group preferred eating the smaller, bite-sized Berries, while the other half seemed to favor the slices of Berries that I was cutting with my cutting knife.

Overall, they were eating their fill, and enjoying every little bite.

Minutes went by for the iguanas and cockatoos to finish the entire fruit basket. I helped by eating a few of the Berries myself, feeling somewhat famished as well, and then I returned the basket and the cutting knife into the S1-GS device.

The ten animals nearby me however, they _didn't_ leave. I assumed that they would because they were only attracted to the Berries that I had with me. The green iguanas were either on me or physically next to me, absorbing my body heat in the process—being cold-blooded after all—and the white cockatoos were chirping amongst themselves and on my shoulders and head. They were even chirping respectfully around _me_ and were doing so that it wasn't a massive earache to my hyper-sensitive ears.

This left me to ponder to myself and see if there's a connection to this abnormality.

"(What are these animals doing here, far away from their respective habitats, and in the middle of nowhere?)" I pondered while looking at them and their behavior, mentally-questioning their presence here. "(They would've never reached this area. White cockatoos lack the flight endurance to fly from Australia to here, even if they miraculously took breaks when they reached subsequent islands. And green iguanas can't reach here on foot either because they would have to travel north from their respective habitats, where the harsh tundra conditions of Canada and Alaska would quickly freeze them to death.)"

As I continued to ponder how these two different, yet exotic species of birds and lizards reached this area, I paid absolutely no attention as to what was approaching me from _behind_, where the tree behind me is.

Whatever it was, it was a massive creature that _was flying here with its large wings_.

"(What are the odds that these two creatures here are also my favorite species of birds and lizards as well…)" I continued to ponder over the unorthodox and perplexing phenomenon presented onto me. "(I've only grown to adore these two species _after_ my departure from the village, and I've never told my personal information to _anyone_ between then and now. _No one_ could know of this because I've never told _anyone_ of this.)"

Whatever was behind me was closing its distance between itself and me quickly. It most likely had malicious intentions directed towards me.

My super-sensitive sense of hearing allowed me to hear very faint sounds of wings flapping from behind me. I knew that it wasn't anything small because each wing beat was too chronologically distant from the one before it, and each one was able to cause powerful downward gusts of wind to keep itself afloat.

The panicked reactions of the animals on me followed after two seconds of my aural detection of faint wing beats. The white cockatoos flew away and the green iguanas scurried away as if their lives depended on it.

As I noticed them traveling farther and farther away in a hurry, I was beginning to feel moderate anxiety.

"(Is this…a trap?)"

I knew that the answer to that question rests on whatever was approaching from behind me that caused panic to the animals and caused them to leave instinctively. Reluctantly, I looked behind me to see what was approaching, and as I did, I felt my heart frightfully drop anchor to my feet when I saw what was approaching me.

A fifteen-foot-long winged lizard was coming towards me. It had a night black color to its entire body—except its underbelly scales, undersides of its maliciously clawed hands and feet, and wing skin, which was an oxymoronic white. The spines sticking out of its back were stout and menacing, along with the clawed pointed wingtips and sharp talons for feet. Its face was repulsive to look at, especially with teeth similar to those of a goblin shark—pointed _forward_ as if stretching out of the mouth—, scales on the sides of its jaws that stretched to the back to its neck, and blood-shot eyes with a menacing ash-black color to them—like my own coincidentally.

_Shrouding Dark Cloud/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD1 - Kingdom Hearts OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

I knew that by the time that I could tell its eye color was when I was too close for comfort to it. Once I saw it breathe fire—a favored cliché for dragons—, I reacted almost instinctively and used what now became second nature to me: Elemental Aura.

I quickly had both of my hand's second vein network flash brown and instantly had my hands willfully emanate Brown (Earth) Aura. With this, I thought "(_Terra Bulwark__!_)" and quickly raised both brown glowing hands in the air.

In an instant, a large wall of rock, as wide as a soccer game's goal field and as thick as a brick wall, shot up four feet in front of me, with the intention of protecting me against most frontal attacks.

"(Is that a…_dragon?_)" I thought with shock at what was flying towards me.

What I wasn't able to see next was this. The "dragon" breathed a powerful stream of fire that shot straight at my _Terra Bulwark_ and engulfed the tiny tree between us in a crossfire. The fire burned the tree to a crisp and set some of the grass on the hill ablaze with fire. The "dragon" continued to breathe fire, albeit it stopped once it got closer to me. It then curled in its wings and made like a hawk and dive bombed right _through_ the _Terra Bulwark_ that I had erected using Brown (Earth) Aura.

The "dragon" didn't stop there after shattering the _Terra Bulwark_. It slammed into me head first and sent me flying while simultaneously stunned.

I flew back about 100 feet, skipping like a throwing stone in the pond. Once I stopped skipping uncontrollably, I found myself on my back, not in pain, but a bit sore howbeit, thinking "(This _is_ a dragon!)" in amazement and fear. I knew that dragons are oversized winged lizards capable of fire and flight, and that the creature that I'm fighting at the moment _is_ in fact, a dragon.

The dragon—now _confirmed_ as one—came out of its dive bomb state and flew upward. It stopped flying upward once it noticed me almost directly below it, and then it dive bombed at me again, confident that I couldn't evade this attack because I was on my back and appeared weak.

"(Oh shit!)" I thought at the sight of a fifteen-foot-long dragon attempting to dive bomb me again. Quickly, I clapped my hands seeped with Brown (Earth) Aura and thought "(_Terra Pyramid_!)" before four triangle-shaped walls of rock erected themselves at will and formed a hollow pyramid about ten feet in diameter and height.

The hostile dragon didn't see this as much protection, especially since it shattered the _Terra Bulwark_ with itself and its momentum earlier. It continued to dive bomb at me without second thoughts and slammed onto the _Terra Pyramid_, shattering it instantly with both of its front feet. Thinking that I was underneath the protective _Terra Pyramid_, the dragon smirked evilly. Unfortunately, when the dragon steeped back to see what state I was in, it was in for a surprise.

Upon stepping back, it noticed that I was no longer where it thought I was. The only thing that showed signs of my presence was the deep hole in the earth that matched my outline. Before the dragon could examine that hole in the earth, it heard rumbling about fifty feet away.

I shot out of the ground fist first and with a spinning uppercut before landing on my two feet on the surface of the earth. "(What a relief that I used _Terra Merge_ to escape possible damage,)" I thought safely before facing the hostile dragon that apparently wants to kill me.

I could see it snarl and growl maliciously at my presence. It positioned its front feet and hind feet, as well as it dropped its front half and raised its back half, in preparation to charge at me at full speed. Its wings were tucked in as well, which signified that it was going to charge with no intention of unnecessary wind drag.

I was still feeling trepidation at this powerful creature, but I wasn't going to let that same trepidation abate me and cause me to run, because I knew that this dragon would easily follow me.

I dissipated my Brown (Earth) Aura and then took out my S1-GS device from my right holster, but with no intentions of assimilating the hostile dragon within this device, especially since it would no longer be killed within it because of the recently-installed Animal's Survival Program—ASP for short.

"(I wonder if it would've been smarter of me to wait until a more proper time to install the ASP program within the S1-GS device,)" I pondered. "(…perhaps not, since I've got _more_ than enough options to kill this dragon before it kills me.)"

The dragon could've chosen to charge at me at any time, but seemed to wait for a more appropriate time, especially since it noticed the S1-GS device and was feeling unusual cautiousness about its presence.

"S1-GS withdrawal:" I held the device near my mouth when speaking to it for my order, "Penta-dent Mark II and Gauntlet Shield."

I pressed the button in the center and held the device above my head. I had both ordered items shoot out of the S1-GS device's black hole center and about twenty feet in the air. Quickly, I placed the S1-GS device away in my right holster and caught both weapons when they came back down to me.

I placed the Gauntlet Shield—which aside from its first function as a standard gauntlet, has a small hemisphere on the left side of the gauntlet area for where the compacted shield can _fully_ extend in an instant for defense—on my left arm and I twirled the Penta-dent Mark II—which is a fusion of both the double-bladed sword and the Penta-dent that I used to fight the Roman Soldier before he knocked me out with my liquid anesthetic—skillfully with my right hand.

"I don't know or _care_ if you can understand what I've to say or not, but you're the first being to see these two new weapons of mine," I spoke to the dragon with a higher volume voice.

The dragon continued to snarl as if it were a wolf, waiting for the proper time to charge and attack. It didn't seem to care if I was saying anything to it, or cursing at it, which didn't accurately present the fact that it could understand me or not.

"I'll enjoy decapitating you with these new weapons of mine," I smirked smugly while speaking to the dragon.

As if it _could_ understand me, it grew pissed off at my smug choice of actions and instead of charging towards me at full speed, it inhaled deeply and exhaled more fire at me.

I saw the stream of fire coming towards me and didn't flinch at the sight of an ominously large fireball closing in on me. All I did to counter this searing attack was raise my left arm in front of me, the one with the Gauntlet Shield on it.

The instant that I performed this action, the tiny hemisphere on the Gauntlet Shield quickly utilized its second function. It evolved into a "+" shape that stretched as long as I am tall between each two ends of its shape. In another instant, that same "+" shape evolved further into the overall shield that was expected of it. The Gauntlet Shield can best be compared to that of a Spartan's shield, only that it's slightly larger, made of the very same material that the shells of my S1-GS device and S2-PTSDO device are made of, and has a third and fourth function that makes it _more_ than just a defensive weapon.

The fire made contact with the shield, albeit the shield was too stalwart for the fire to overcome. The fire simply spread out adjacent to the shield, but not through, where I was behind. It didn't even overheat, despite the time spent immersed in fire.

Once the dragon ran out of breath, it stopped shooting fire and realized partially that its fire-breathing was going to go nowhere fast because of my Gauntlet Shield, which still retained its luminous surface after the powerful stream of fire.

Quickly, my Gauntlet Shield re-formed the "+" shape, and then went back into that small hemisphere on the left side of the Gauntlet area. "No good," I said with another smug grin that I had every right to be made.

The dragon now grew gradually furious and began to charge at me with zero warning. I could see a powerfully-repulsive face of hate and vindictiveness coming towards me, even though its face was hard to look at to _begin_ with.

"(One step forward, _ten_ steps back…)" I thought while now having my right hand emanate Light Green (Wind) Aura. I focused that aura onto my Penta-dent Mark II by twirling the weapon expertly across my right hand's wrist. Once enough of the energy has transferred into the Penta-dent Mark II, I simply grasped it again with my right hand and held it in a position where I was going to swing it.

The dragon was closing the fifty foot gap between us and near striking distance of me.

"(_Aero Knockback_!)" I gave one mighty and wide horizontal swing of the Penta-dent Mark II and immediately, a massive gale of air shot out forward and quickly made contact with the hostile dragon. It was carried back via air across the distance equal to that of a football field, where it stopped going further backwards by digging its claws into the soil, as if they were anchors on a boat.

The dragon didn't hesitate to charge once more at me after stopping from sliding further back, and especially since the _Aero Knockback_ technique that I used was only meant to be used as it is mentioned, a _knockback_ technique.

For my next plan of action, I dissipated my Light Green (Wind) Aura and now began to emanate Orange (Melee) Aura all across from my waistline to my toes. To add to that, I made my right hand emanate Purple (Psychic) Aura, and used telekinesis—or _Psycho Control_ as I decided to call it since it is connected to my Purple (Psychic) Aura—to cause the Penta-dent Mark II to hover about five feet away from my hand. "(I should end this now! _Martial Charge_!)"

With the power of the Orange (Melee) Aura surging across my legs, as well as the _Martial Charge_ boosting my overall physical power and endurance, I found myself running at _70 mph_ easily, with my legs moving at high speeds.

The dragon saw its target closing in fast and shot more fire at me as it was charging as well.

"You're fire-breathing again?" I said before raising my left arm and having the Gauntlet Shield quickly create its large shield to easily defend against the fire entirely. Once the fire stopped, I purposely didn't have the shield disappear again. Instead, I had six-inch _spikes_ shoot out from the outside edges of the shield, and then with a mechanism in the gauntlet, caused the shield to spin madly like an oversized buzz-saw—the third function of the Gauntlet Shield.

Once I found myself on the left side of the dragon, I knew that there was no time to lose, especially since the dragon may quickly turn around and attack at close-range. I turned off the Orange (Melee) Aura because my need for it is fulfilled, and with _Psycho Control_, I threw the Penta-dent Mark II over the dragon's back and had it levitate nearby the right side of the oversized beast. Next, with incredible synchronicity, I began slashing away at the dragon with the Gauntlet Shield and the Penta-dent Mark II began to spin horizontally, slashing at the dragon's right side with each end of the weapon, quickly so that I maximize damage before the dragon can retaliate.

The dragon screeched in pain with enough volume to give me an earache. It can feel the flesh on the sides of its abdomen fall apart with each and every painful slash of my Penta-dent Mark II and Gauntlet Shield, as well as the blood empting out of each cut copiously. Despite its thick hide reducing damage to its sides, it knew that unless it counterattacked quickly enough, it would most likely endure severe damage.

As I continued to slash hastily at the scaly hide of the dragon with my Gauntlet Shield, I noticed that the dragon's head was getting close to attacking me. I could see it open its mouth and bear menacingly its grotesque forward-pointed teeth to me, as if it were about to chomp me, or _burn_ me, to death.

"(You're not sinking your teeth in _me_!)" I thought before having myself glow _completely_ in Orange (Melee) Aura, preparing myself for a _counter_-counterattack.

In doing so, the Penta-dent Mark II stopped spinning as well—since there was no longer a telekinetic force keeping it afloat—and fell to the floor. My Gauntlet shield stopped spinning as well, under my intentions.

"(_Martial Barrage_!)" I thought and then swatted the dragon's head away powerfully with the center of the Gauntlet Shield's oversized shield, hearing a stifled gong sound in the process. However, that was only the beginning of a brutal combo aimed solely at its head.

Following up on the attack that stunned it, I gave it a right hook, and then bashed its head upward with the Gauntlet Shield—the _spiked_ end—shutting its mouth and giving it a hole below its chin that it could feel with its tongue.

Next, being the oddball that I am, I jumped to reach its head, turned myself upside-down, and then gave _four_ clockwise upside-down roundhouse kicks to its right jaw, dislocating it significantly with cumulative damage. Once I fell back down to the ground in the same upside-down position that I was in, I jumped back up again with my _right arm_—thanks to the strength that the Orange (Melee) Aura has granted me with.

Once I was level with its head, I did two front-flips with the Gauntlet Shield's spiked tips striking and stabbing brutally across the skull of the dragon's head, deep enough to pierce its skin, but not quite enough to pierce its skull.

Finally, as a multi-part finisher, I positioned myself horizontal, struck the dragon's skull with a downward swipe of the Gauntlet Shield's smooth surface, turned counter-clockwise across my axis to punch it in the same place, turned further counter-clockwise and positioned my body for two final sequential axe kicks to its skull.

The dragon, with its bruised and bloody head, dislocated jaw, pierced lower mouth, and a significant head injury that limited its reaction potential to near nothing, was only able to see my next two attacks coming down on its skull.

I channeled my current Orange (Melee) Aura into my legs to guarantee that these two axe kick attacks become decisive, and then struck hard and true with them both sequentially, straight onto the dragon's nose. Both axe kicks collapsed the dragon's snout downward, and the second axe kick sent the dragon's head down onto the earth with enough force to crater the ground that its head impacted, as well as partially burying its head into the dirt.

I landed about three feet away from its head and dissipated my Orange (Melee) Aura. Once the dragon collapsed onto the floor, I felt as though the dragon could no longer fight back. I now took this time to examine the damage that I caused on it.

"(I obviously tore into the left side of its abdomen, despite its thick hide,)" I examined the left side of its abdomen, seeing blood stain its black scaly hide significantly.

I then noticed my Penta-dent Mark II stabbed into the ground when it fell from my telekinetic grip.

"(I know that I carved into its right abdomen as well, due to the blood on the blades of my Penta-dent Mark II)."

I made my shield compact itself to its stubby hemisphere form on the left side of my Gauntlet Shield and then I had my right hand emanate Purple (Psychic) Aura. In an instant, my Penta-dent Mark II was imbued in Purple (Psychic) Aura and it quickly came back to my hand, where I twirled it expertly before gripped the weapon securely and dissipating my Purple (Psychic) Aura.

Now I looked at the damage I caused on the dragon's head, feeling absolutely no regret or remorse to it. "(A few puncture wounds exposing the skull, a hole on its lower jaw that can allow its tongue to touch its neck, a dislocated jaw, a collapsed snout, a concussion, and enough blood loss to cause a slow death,)" I gave one last sweep of my eyes across both majorly wounded areas, seeing how life-threatening they were to the dragon. "(You might as well be dead now, but to guarantee that…)"

I twirled the Penta-dent Mark II in my hand until the dual-bladed sword end was pointing downward, and then positioned myself into a standby battle stance, with the sword tip of the Penta-dent Mark II aimed straight at the dragon's exposed neck.

"(…I'll just have to _decapitate_—)" I stopped soliloquizing when I felt something abnormal on my right ankle.

I looked down gradually until I was able to see my right ankle. To my surprise, the dragon's tail had found its way around my ankle and was now wrapped three times over on my ankle. I knew what was coming next, and I wasn't too pleased about it because the dragon was still alive, and likely _vindictively_ malicious at the injuries I gave it.

"(*Sigh*)" Was all that I was able to do before I was brutally _yanked_ off my feet by the dragon's tail. The first yank was enough to dislocate my right femur from my pelvis, as well as force me to drop my Penta-dent Mark II.

"(Dammit! My leg's dislocated!)" I thought when I felt my right femur bone dislocate from its socket on my pelvis.

In an instant, I knew now that the only things holding my entire right leg onto me were three things: my skin, my muscle tissue, and my tendons. Unfortunately, all three of them were gradually growing more damaged when the dragon decided to slam me onto the ground repeatedly—and darkly comically.

"Oof! (Why didn't I…) Oof! (Just cut off…) Oof! (It's head…) Oof! (When I had…) Oof! (The freaking chance…) Oof! (To _do_ so) Oof!" I thought, with unrestrained "Oof!" sounds when the dragon slammed me onto the ground, causing air to squeeze out of my lungs abnormally, and my right thigh to ache considerably more, since it continued to unnaturally bend like rubber.

The dragon continued to slam me onto the ground uninterruptedly and relentlessly with its unusually powerful and dexterous tail, hoping that I would fall unconscious from either the pain or the shock of hitting solid earth at such a high speed and consistency. Its face—though marred, bloody, broken, and swollen—is showing obvious signs of rage and vindictiveness, as only a dragon can demonstrate.

After a minute of constant pummeling of my physical being, try as it might, to the dragon's surprise, it couldn't kill me with the brute force that its tail had in each of its vertebrae. It wasn't even able to knock me out unconscious, especially since I was taking considerable damage to my entire body.

"(I can't…) Oof! (Afford to…) Oof! (Fall unconscious…) Oof! (In this fight) Oof!" I used pure willpower to keep myself from fainting, as well as pure endurance to mentally abate the pain of distorting muscle from my leg.

The dragon's face continued to grow more disturbing as my body simultaneously continued to grow cumulatively more bruised and battered. When the dragon's tail was beginning to fatigue, I managed to catch brief glimpses of the dragon's disposition after each increasingly distant brutal hit onto the hard, unforgiving earth.

What I saw was somewhat disturbing.

"(I never would've thought that I'd…) Oof! (See something more _hideous_ than…) Oof! (The ubiquitous scars on my back…) Oof! (On the face of an animal like _this_ one) Oof!" I had _almost_ forgotten about the omnipresent physical pain that I was currently enduring while seeing such an unsettling countenance on the dragon.

Seconds after the soliloquy of how repulsive the dragon's face was compared to my back—as well as the uncountable body slams onto the ground via dragon's tail—, I found myself both surprised and in _more_ pain when the dragon hoisted me high in the air. My whole body was now reluctantly tugging against my dislocated leg because of gravity, and I began to question the likelihood of _keeping_ my leg if I survive this fight.

But that was only because I wasn't given the chance to use my Green (Healing) Aura, due to being treated like a rag doll.

I looked down, from this height, to the dragon's head, noticing how disturbing it still was before my ash-black eyes, as well as noticing that the dragon was looking straight at me. To add to that, I noticed that it's countenance was not only horrifying, but annoyed and enraged as well.

"(I wonder if this lizard on steroids is annoyed at my unnatural and extraordinary resilience…)" I pondered while upside down and hanging on by the weakened flesh of my dislocated right leg.

The dragon struggled significantly to open its jaw. Before my eyes, it seemed as though it was fighting against _itself_, where it was simultaneously trying to open and close its jaw. However, the dragon did succeed in its own fight to open its jaw, and despite dislocation, it was able to open its jaw _wide_.

Seeing this, two thoughts quickly popped into my head.

I thought that the dragon would either _devour_ me whole, or _burn_ me to a crisp at pointblank range. Either way, I wanted no part of either of the two predictions of what the dragon would do to me, for now I was given a much sought-after opportunity of escape.

"(At last, an opening!)" I thought before quickly aiming the Gauntlet Shield at the base of the dragon's tail, and instantly having the oversized shield form fully, spikes and all.

However, the dragon didn't want me to do what it thought I'd do, which was cut off its tail within my reach. To prevent this, it lunged at me with its head, and actually _clamped_ its dislocated jaw right onto my shield, almost scratching my shoulder in the process with its bare teeth, and _repairing_ its collapsed snout. Its dental grip was so strong that I wasn't able to shake it off by having my Gauntlet Shield gyrate in a buzz-saw manner. The motor within the mechanism doesn't possess enough torque to free my Gauntlet Shield.

"You're beginning to piss me off!" I shouted at the hostile dragon when the buzz-saw mechanism failed to remove the dragon's stalwart grip. However, I wouldn't give up after this failed attempt, and I quickly pondered my next attempt at escape, and this one involved visualization with my mind.

I closed my eyes and had my _head_ emanate Purple (Psychic) Aura. In doing so, I was able to concentrate and cancel out the outside world into pitch-black nothingness. The only objects that remained within that blackness were the dragon, the Penta-dent Mark II stabbed into the earth, the Gauntlet Shield, and I.

I focused my telekinetic abilities onto my Penta-dent Mark II and had it rise into the air, unnoticed by the dragon, which was too preoccupied with clamping its jaws onto my Gauntlet Shield and holding on tightly.

However, a clamp only works if both halves are present, and if either one of those halves are missing—or _severed_—, then the clamp is rendered completely useless.

With this in mind, I had my Penta-dent Mark II suddenly spin all around us as if it were the moon revolving around Earth, never losing track of its position for even a second. When the timing was right and the opening exposed and vulnerable, I delivered my indirect attack.

_(Song Ends Abruptly)_

_**GONG!**_

The Penta-dent Mark II struck a certain area of the Gauntlet Shield, creating the hollow-sounding gong that was heard earlier, which didn't deter me a bit, since I _purposely_ made it do so. Thankfully, since both weapons were made with the same incredible material that both the S1-GS device and S2-PTSDO device have, the Penta-dent Mark II simply bounced off without damage to _either_ weapon. It fell to the ground on its side, along with something _else_, something that belonged to the dragon.

Its entire lower _jaw_, tongue included.

The dragon, despite its repulsive countenance, was showing pure shock. Its eyes were opened so wide that it was entirely possible for its eyes to pop out of their socket.

I had already dissipated my Purple (Psychic) Aura and had my eyes open. The first thing that I did was see the dragon's reaction to losing its entire lower jaw. The next thing that I did was to quickly pivot the Gauntlet Shield and hammer the dragon's head away from me because of two reasons: to get it away from me and to _not_ see its facial countenance anymore.

The dragon seemed to partially recover from its shock, but not enough to prevent my escape.

Deciding that this was the perfect time for me to use the fourth and _final_ function of the Gauntlet Shield, I repositioned the shield, locked-on at the base of the dragon's tail and had it spin once more in a buzz-saw manner. Finally, I literally _fired_ the shield towards the base of the dragon's tail, _instantly_ slicing it off and falling back down onto the earth back first.

"(What a relief to my right leg…)" I thought briefly before getting back up on my feet, but only on my left foot. The mutilated dragon tail's weight was enough to have it no longer wrap around my leg.

I knew that I was now defying normal body limits because my entire body was bruised after the pummeling I endured earlier, but not once did I let that thought hinder at my being.

I quickly hopped over to retrieve the Penta-dent Mark II and to my surprise, the dragon was still in shock and also not aware of my current actions. Perhaps it was in shock after having _two_ parts of its body cut off, or perhaps from the massive blood loss that it was somehow enduring from.

"(What a powerful creature,)" I thought when seeing all that I've done to the dragon to try and kill it. "(I never thought that there'd be anyone…any_thing_ alive that can rival my willpower and endurance,)" I stabbed the ground with the Penta-dent Mark II and left the weapon there to my side, because I was going to need both hands for these next techniques. "(I'll have to subdue this dragon before killing it the way I had planned on doing so.)"

* * *

><p><span>(My Flashback)<span>

_ "I don't know or _care_ if you can understand what I've to say or not, but you're the first being to see these two new weapons of mine," I spoke to the dragon with a higher volume voice._

_ The dragon continued to snarl as if it were a wolf, waiting for the proper time to charge and attack. It didn't seem to care if I was saying anything to it, or cursing at it, which didn't accurately present the fact that it could understand me or not._

_ "I'll enjoy decapitating you with these new weapons of mine," I smirked smugly while speaking to the dragon._

* * *

><p><span>(End of My Flashback)<span>

I began to emanate Brown (Earth) Aura on my left hand and Dark Green (Nature) Aura on my right hand, planning on using _two_ attacks simultaneously to subdue the dragon before delivering the intended final blow.

"(_Terra Suppression_! _Folio Entanglement_!)" I thought while raising both of my glowing hands in the air, and then forcefully retracting my hands into fists.

In no time at all, chunks of earth similar to those used with _Terra Pyramid_ shot up from the ground and around each foot of the dragon, as well as the head of the dragon, leaving it positioned level to its body, and then sealed itself all around the targeted areas to prevent movement. At the same time, vines with numerous thorns on them shot out from the ground. They stuck themselves fast on the entire physical being of the dragon, preventing escape, as well as clinging into the dragon's flesh and further making it a bloody mess.

The dragon roared in pain, and was unable to free itself with or without its capability of breathing fire.

I brought my arms down and dismissed both the Brown (Earth) Aura and the Dark Green (Nature) Aura. Then, I opened my hands, had them both emanate Purple (Psychic) Aura, and pointed their palms on my far-off weapons: my left hand aimed at the dislocated shield of my Gauntlet Shield and my right hand aimed at my Penta-dent Mark II. My Gauntlet Shield quickly regained its shield component and it deformed into the compacted hemisphere shape, and my Penta-dent Mark II planted itself onto its respective hand and I gripped it tightly.

Just before deciding to deliver the final decapitating blow, I looked at the dragon's head, noticing it struggle significantly to escape, but because of both _Terra Suppression_ and _Folio Entanglement_ subduing it properly, there was no chance of escape, or even mild movement. I could see it stare at me with coincidentally similar ash-black eyes, only they were blood-shot and enraged, like the rest of the dragon.

"Grr…" The dragon growled and struggled to escape, but with limited movement, its attempts was immaterial, pointless, and in vain.

"…" I didn't feel or think any remorse or mercy when the dragon looked at me, or as it continued to struggle to free itself from both of my simultaneous imprisonment techniques. I knew that it was a hostile enemy and I needed to finish it off, or be placed in eternal jeopardy.

It's all basic survival after all. Kill or _be_ killed.

"Time to lose your head," I said before spinning the Penta-dent Mark II expertly around my right hand. As I was doing so, I had myself radiate Light Green (Wind) Aura all over my body. I planned on using my aero-kinetic abilities for my final attack.

I continued spinning the Penta-dent Mark II around my right hand and then had it spin over the top of my head. "(_Aero Twister_!)" I thought while channeling the wind around me to form into a twister. The speed of the wind around me easily exceeded hurricane force winds, and was easily visible by the grass and earth debris that got caught within the twister.

Grass blades and clumps of dirt revolved around me at hundreds of revolutions per minute before rising upward and falling back down where they're recaptured once more by the powerful gyrating gale. My hair, though no longer than an inch in length, was clearly being toyed with by the wind.

Using the powerful revolving gale that I've just generated, I stopped spinning the Penta-dent Mark II and used both the power of the twister and the Light Green (Wind) Aura that I was generating to literally _jump_ into the air, just before the gale lost power and disappeared. With one leg only used to jump into the air, I was only able to jump at half of my intended height

…About 500 feet.

The dragon continued to struggle ignorantly and immaterially, and saw me rise high into the air while it was struggling to free itself. It saw me remain stationary 500 feet in mid-air, hovering menacingly above its head.

Defying gravity, I remained in mid-air until I decided to fall back down to earth. Deciding to end the dragon's life _now_, I grasped the Penta-dent Mark II with both hands and positioned it horizontal and with myself upside-down, as if I were an inverted helicopter.

"(_Aero Pile Driver_!)" I thought of my last attack before spinning rapidly like a top as I plummeted back down to Earth, with my Penta-dent Mark II at my side, held outward.

The dragon saw me come closer to reaching it and struggled harder than ever to escape, but if it wasn't for my two earlier techniques utilized to subdue its very _movement_, then it would've easily escaped and/or counterattacked. Perhaps if it wasn't so badly wounded, then it probably would've had more strength to escape.

All it could truly do was move its eyes and watch the last seconds of its life tick away.

Before reaching 150 feet, I was spinning incredibly fast across my own axis. Once I reached 150 feet, I managed to position myself so that I'd have the sword end of the Penta-dent Mark II exposed to be utilized. Just as well, I successfully transferred myself and my accumulated energy from spinning to _front_-flipping. With the Penta-dent Mark II's exposed sword end, and a stalwart gale of wind around me, I was now an unstoppable meteor of decapitation.

The dragon, try as it might, wasn't able to escape from its natural prison. Its eyes grew more blood-shot, but not from being enraged. Seeing no chance of me slowing down has made the dragon fearful for its life.

"**OFF WITH **_**YOUR**_** HEAD!**" I shouted at the top of my lungs to have myself heard against the wind that I was using as I came crashing down onto the dragon, right on top of the base of its neck. Upon impact, its neck was no problem for me to cut at and was sliced clean through with very little resistance.

_Purposefully_, I kept going and upon crashing back down to the ground, the gale that I carried with me was so strong that it caused an eruption of dirt debris that masked the _surrounding _area in a cloud of dust and dirt.

I stood up immediately after crashing down. "(_Aero Sphere Twister_!)" I thought before channeling the wind to from a sphere twister around me, and then I dispersed it all around the area to blow away the concealing dust cloud.

With no need to use Elemental Aura at the moment, I stopped using my Light Green (Wind) Aura.

Once the dust cloud was cleared, a few things were made obvious upon first glance.

For starters, despite the impressive height that I fell from, I was still alive and standing upright, on one leg. However, the pummeling that I endured from the dragon, when it grasped my right leg with its prehensile tail, was clearly shown from the bruises that I have all over me. Also, my right femur bone has been dislocated from my pelvis and the flesh connecting them was badly manhandled.

However, that can be healed with little consequence with a few healing sessions of my Green (Healing) Aura, and a few Berry medicines as well.

As for the dragon that I fought, aside from the mutilated head and tail, it was still in a far worse, easily _fatal_ condition than I was. The wind that came here, after I cut off its head, was powerful enough to _scatter_ the dragon's individual body parts. The wind also shattered the _Folio Entanglement_ and _Terra Suppression_ techniques that I had placed on it earlier.

Its head was _barbarically_ mangled with a collapsed snout, rent lower mouth, omni-coated bruising, mental concussion, and puncture wounds on the skull—which somehow _didn't_ kill it immediately. Its tail was only cut off and therefore not a target for the _Folio Entanglement_ or _Terra Suppression_ technique that I used earlier.

Its middle area—legs, torso, and neck— was brutally slashed at from both the left and right sides when I used both of my chosen weapons to shred its abdomen.

To top it all off, all but its tail is covered with puncture wounds within every square inch of its flesh, due to the _Folio Entanglement_ technique utilized earlier.

Still clutching the Penta-dent Mark II with an iron grip and showing only mild signs of damage, I hopped on one leg over to each of the three scattered parts of the dead dragon. I paid _particular_ attention to the blood when examining the dragon. "(I wonder if I've committed overkill on this dragon…)" I thought when ogling the blood of the dragon. "(…No, that's immaterial. I have to remember that this was a fight to the death.)"

Easily setting aside my victory over slaying a dragon—since the basic win/lose concept matters not to me—, I decided that now was the perfect time to recuperate from my injuries.

Paying no second thoughts to this next action, I hopped over once more to the dragon's torso and actually _rested_ my back on the underbelly of the dragon. I only felt the need to recline and remove stress on my currently functional left leg when doing so, and paid little interest of the surplus of blood that was staining my clothing, or the mere thought of doing this action in the first place.

I retrieved the S1-GS device from my right holster and added the Penta-dent Mark II and Gauntlet Shield into its inventory. "(I won't require your aid anymore after a job well done today,)" I thought with a small grin before closing the S1-GS device and replacing it on my right holster.

_Now_ I decided to recuperate from my injuries, reluctantly starting with my dislocated right leg.

With the nerves that somehow remained intact after the ferocious thrashing that the dragon inflicted onto me with its tail, I was still able to feel the current position of my dislocated right femur bone. It was about one inch _to the left_ of its normal socket. So to save myself the trouble of trial and error when relocating my femur bone to its appropriate socket, I decided to emanate Purple (Psychic) Aura from my head and use my telekinetic abilities to do the job faster and easier.

But by no means _less_ painful…

"(*Sigh*)" I could feel a bead of sweat roll down my left cheek and my teeth collapse into each other when I gritted them. I knew this would be painful, but I knew that I had to get this done to prevent further agony.

As quickly as possible, I telekinetically pulled my leg outward and then retracted it back in, feeling it connect to its normal place as I hoped. Just after I did so, I felt a powerful wave of pain surge into my nerves.

"…" I felt my own eyes become just as blood-shot as the dragon's ash-black eyes while enduring the sharp pain. Once the pain eventually abated itself, I moved my right leg a bit, feeling how stiff it was. With a bit more movement, that stiffness slowly disappeared, but not completely at first.

For my next step in recovery, I planned on simply using Green (Healing) Aura all over my body, since my entire body endured significant bruising from the dragon earlier. I turned off my Purple (Psychic) Aura from my head, and just as I about to begin to heal my injuries, I heard something anomalous.

"_You can't escape your fate_…" A malicious voice echoed throughout this area.

"…!" My eyes widened when I heard this voice echo across the field and into my ears. "(What the hell?)" I thought, dubious of what I heard. "(Am I hearing-?)"

"_You're already at the mercy of fatalism_…" That very same malice rang its tone of voice across my ears and head once more.

I had no idea where the voice's source was, nor did I recognize it from any past experiences. "Who and _where_ are you?" I said and quickly got back up to _both_ of my feet, albeit carefully, since my right leg was still sore and damaged. I had my right hand placed close to my S1-GS device, in case I needed to withdraw my weaponry.

"_You can't _prevent_ It…_"

I scanned the area around me to locate the voice, paying enough attention to what the voice was saying simultaneously. However, with the malicious voice apparently being heard from every direction, locating it would be somewhat impossible for me, especially with my incredible sense of hearing. "What are you _talking_ about?" I said, curious to what the malicious voice was speaking about, albeit vaguely.

"_You can't _escape_ from It…_"

"(I wonder if…)" An idea popped into my head. "(…if that malicious voice is coming from the _dragon_.)"

I decided to walk slowly over to the dragon's head, on martial standby in case events take a turn for the worst.

"_You can't _endure_ against It_…" The malicious voice seemed to grow more stalwart.

I could hear the malicious voice grow stronger as I crept closer to the decapitated dragon's head. I didn't drop my guard because I had a hunch that this head was still alive and somehow speaking to me. I stopped walking closer once the dragon's head was within kicking distance.

Upon further inspection, I noticed that there was no possible way for this dragon to speak orally because its entire lower jaw was missing, as well as its tongue. Because its lower jaw was missing, blood and saliva spilled onto the soil below. Instantly, I realized that there was no _possibility_ of it to speak, especially since its head was detached from its heart, lungs, and vocal cords—if it had any—, as well as it being overall _dead_ both upon first glance and clinically.

Be that as it may, its eyes were open, albeit appeared soulless and vacant.

Not much reason went into these next three spoken words of mine, since I had little idea what was communicating with me.

"What is '_It_'?" I said to the cadaverous dragon head, assuming that it was capable of speech.

As if the dragon's head was still alive, the rolled-over ash-black eye actually _looked_ at me and suddenly turned blood-shot, as if enraged at its mutilation.

I reared back with a horrifyingly surprised look, complete with widened eyes, dilated pupils, and an increased heartbeat. However, as I was rearing back from surprise, events—as I feared—somehow took a turn for the worst for me.

I actually _stopped_ mid-action and somehow, the _entire_ world around me turned black right in front of my eyes. The setting sun, sanguine sky, snow white clouds, lush green grass, and dirt brown floor beneath me, they all lost their color and existence.

The only surrounding objects that didn't turn black in front of me were the dragon—every bit of it, including the lost blood—and me.

"(What the hell is going on? I can't move at all!)" I felt as if my entire body was stuck in a reluctant state of suspended animation. I couldn't twitch a finger of mine, or even move my eyes, so now I was stuck seeing the dragon's severed head.

Not only that, but my entire body went monochrome in terms of color.

"(At least the dragon is just as immobile and helpless as I—)"

Before I knew it, the dragon's _tail_ somehow was in front of me. Ignoring the fact that the dragon's overall color remained unmarred, I realized that the dragon was still capable of movement, despite the current environment and mutilation of its appendages.

"(…Crap…)" I thought seconds before seeing the dragon's tail's tip point straight at me. Since my eyes were pointed directly in front of me, I was only able to clearly see the dragon's tail, but not react to it in any manner.

All I could do was watch as the tail's tip lunge straight towards my face, and then the next thing that I knew, I was seeing white and I had apparently lost consciousness.

* * *

><p><em><span>7.4: The Subsequent Result<span>_

Location: 28°N, 34°E

Date: September 6th, 50 A.D.

Time: 9:09 PM

I was lying on the grassy hill, unconscious after the encounter with the dragon. I was on my back and if anyone passed by the area, they would see someone asleep on the grassy hill and pay little interest afterward.

However, certain creatures would pay interest to this and approach the scene in curiosity. Fortunately for me, those creatures weren't hostile, or even large in size.

Those creatures, in case you've forgotten about them already, were the five green iguanas and five white cockatoos that I fed earlier and that scurried off when the dragon attacked. They had willfully chosen to return to me and see my current condition.

In doing so, what they noticed was something that only someone who was nearby could notice from me.

I was bleeding _excessively_ from my left eye.

Without fear or hesitation, one of the green iguanas—the very same one that first approached me earlier—climbed on top of me and proceeded over to my face, being unusually careful _not_ to cause further harm via scratches with the nails on its feet. It growled softly once near my face and wondered if I would wake up by hearing its low, gentle growl.

I didn't wake up.

That same iguana, failing in its first attempt to wake me up, then noticed my bleeding left eye and proceeded to tend to it by licking the wound clean of running blood, not showing any signs of liking the taste of blood, but still continuing nevertheless.

The other four green iguanas were right on top of my belly and watching me, wondering if I'd react to the licking.

I chuckled a bit from the eye-licking.

Knowing now that this was working, the iguana continued licking, and the white cockatoos joined in by tugging on my hair with their beaks, but only enough to cause me to stir and awaken.

"Heh heh…heh heh…" I chuckled further and soon after, I woke up. The first thing that I noticed was the green iguana near my face, licking my left eye for some reason.

Once the iguana noticed that I was finally awake, it stopped licking me and got off of me, along with its four reptilian companions. The white cockatoos also stopped tugging on my hair and grouped themselves nearby the green iguanas that placed themselves nearby the left side of me. I raised myself by placing my hands on the ground and lifting my upper half up, and it was then that I noticed the green iguana that was licking me had _blood_ around its mouth.

"…!" I remembered how the iguana was licking my left eye and placed my hand on and around my left eye. When I removed my hand and looked at the blood on it, I realized two things: I was bleeding profusely from my left eye and worse, I had gone _completely_ blind in that eye. "(How did this happen?)" I thought, horrified at my newfound partial blindness, and recalled past events until I remembered how this happened.

* * *

><p><span>(My Flashback)<span>

_ As if the dragon's head was still alive, the rolled-over ash-black eye actually _looked_ at me and suddenly turned blood-shot, as if enraged at its mutilation._

_ I reared back with a horrifyingly surprised look, complete with widened eyes, dilated pupils, and an increased heartbeat. However, as I was rearing back from surprise, events—as I feared—somehow took a turn for the worst for me._

_ I actually _stopped_ mid-action and somehow, the _entire_ world around me turned black right in front of my eyes. The setting sun, sanguine sky, snow white clouds, lush green grass, and dirt brown floor beneath me, they all lost their color and existence._

_ The only surrounding objects that didn't turn black in front of me were the dragon—every bit of it, including the lost blood—and me._

_ "(What the hell is going on? I can't move at all!)" I felt as if my entire body was stuck in a reluctant state of suspended animation. I couldn't twitch a finger of mine, or even move my eyes, so now I was stuck seeing the dragon's severed head._

_ Not only that, but my entire body went monochrome in terms of color._

_ "(At least the dragon is just as immobile and helpless as I—)"_

_ Before I knew it, the dragon's _tail_ somehow was in front of me. Ignoring the fact that the dragon's overall color remained unmarred, I realized that the dragon was still capable of movement, despite the current environment and mutilation of its appendages._

_ "(…Crap…)" I thought seconds before seeing the dragon's tail's tip point straight at me. Since my eyes were pointed directly in front of me, I was only able to clearly see the dragon's tail, but not react to it in any manner._

_ All I could do was watch as the tail's tip lunge straight towards my face, and then the next thing that I knew, I was seeing white and I had apparently lost consciousness._

* * *

><p><span>(End of My Flashback)<span>

"(Oh right… _Now_ I remember…)" I thought with a droned tone before getting back up on my feet. When doing so, I now recalled how sore my entire body was and how I was going to heal myself with my Green (Healing) Aura. Deciding that I should do so now, I did so and began healing myself.

The five green iguanas and five white cockatoos marveled at how I was able to glow and brighten the dim night with my energy. They continued staring on enthusiastically until I stopped healing myself with my Green (Healing) Aura after ten seconds had gone by. Once the light dimmed, they remained stationary in their place, curious as to how I was able to do that.

Once fully healed and free of the sore bruising and ache in my body, I paid more attention to my current predicament over the curiosity of the green iguanas and white cockatoos. I repeatedly blinked one eye at a time in tandem, seeing if I've miraculously regained my vision.

Against my hopes, I _didn't_ regain my vision.

"If only I wasn't knocked unconscious by that dragon…" I spoke aloud with little reason to do so. I looked at the lizards and parrots below me and thought "(At least my left eye is functional for everything except vision.)"

The ten animals below me looked up at me with nonchalance and a sense of reassurance because they knew that I meant no harm to them.

"(I wonder how these guys ended up here of all places…)" I looked on at them and noticed their abnormality. "(…and are relaxed as can be around me.)"

They continued to look on at me with patience. It was almost as if they were expecting something from me.

"(Maybe it was the Berries that I gave them earlier that has them nonchalant and nearby me…)"

The thought of the Berries has given me an idea.

"Are you hungry again?" I spoke to the ten animals.

The animals below me bobbed their heads and I assumed that they meant to say "Yes", in their own way.

"Then I've got just the thing for you all," I said before retrieving the S1-GS device from my right holster with my right hand and then holding the sphere above my head, with a finger close to the button, making sure first that it was turned upside-down.

The animals nearby me looked on with curiosity and no fear. They knew that the Berries that they loved came from the S1-GS device, so they were completely nonchalant at its presence.

"S1-GS withdrawal:" I began to place an order to the S1-GS device. "Assorted Berry tree," I said before pressing the S1-GS's center button. In an instant, the S1-GS device opened wide and immediately expelled a massive oak-like tree towards the sky.

Acting faster than the descent of the tree, I closed the S1-GS device, brought it down, and had my left hand emanate Purple (Psychic) Aura. I lifted my left hand ad used _Psycho Control_ to have the tree hover above my head, and then I guided the tree to gently fall into the place where the pre-existing tree once was in—_before_ being burned away by the dragon—, which was on top of the hill.

Next, I switched from Purple (Psychic) Aura to Brown (Earth) Aura and thought "(_Terra Collapse_!)", as well as make a dropping hand gesture before literally having the tree's roots collapse an entire foot into the earth.

After that, I switched from Brown (Earth) Aura to Blue (Water) Aura, still using my left hand for all of this. I walked towards the Red Sea nearby me—because I'm at a coastline after all, if you remember the S2-PTSDO device's GPS mode—and raised my left hand in the air.

"(_Hydro Siphon_!)" I thought before having a tube-shaped collection of water hover above the Red Sea and then come nearby my left hand. I pointed my left hand towards the tree and the water moved inches next to the tree. Then, I stuck one finger out and made circles with it, and in doing so, the water revolved around the tree and shaped itself into a ring. Finally, I stopped having my hand emanate Blue (Water) Aura altogether, the water stopped revolving around the trunk of the tree and dropped onto the ground, where the tree's roots were.

Once done, all of the animals happily frolicked over to the Berry tree that I had placed over the hill to replace the one that was burned away by the malicious dragon. The white cockatoos flew towards the tallest branches, while the green iguanas climbed the Berry tree's trunk to reach the lower level branches. They all began to feast heartily on the assorted Berries that the Berry tree has to offer.

I watched them eat and felt a warm feeling in my heart to provide them with something that makes them happy and calm.

A few more seconds later, I now began to question how these exotic animals came to be here on a peninsula to the east of Egypt.

"(If that dragon I fought…)" I paused in mid-thought to check the time on my S2-PTSDO device—9:30 PM—before resuming. "(…approximately three hours ago… If it brought these animals here solely for the purpose of luring me, then it must've had a reason to do so.)"

I crossed my arms behind my back, looked down steadily, and began to recall what purpose the dragon had in encountering me, assuming it had one.

"(How was it able to speak to me in _that_ manner, without using its mouth?)"

I decided to focus on the _only_ question that mattered enough to me.

"(What _did_ it say to me back then?)"

* * *

><p><span>(My Flashback)<span>

_ "_You can't escape your fate…_" A malicious voice echoed throughout this area._

_ "…!" My eyes widened when I heard this voice echo across the field and into my ears. "(What the hell?)" I thought, dubious of what I heard. "(Am I hearing-?)"_

_ "_You're already at the mercy of fatalism…_" That very same malice rang its tone of voice across my ears and head once more._

_ I had no idea where the voice's source was, nor did I recognize it from any past experiences. "Who and _where_ are you?" I said and quickly got back up to _both_ of my feet, albeit carefully, since my right leg was still sore and damaged. I had my right hand placed close to my S1-GS device, in case I needed to withdraw my weaponry._

_ "_You can't _prevent_ It…_"_

_ I scanned the area around me to locate the voice, paying enough attention to what the voice was saying simultaneously. However, with the malicious voice apparently being heard from every direction, locating it would be somewhat impossible for me, especially with my incredible sense of hearing. "What are you _talking_ about?" I said, curious to what the malicious voice was speaking about, albeit vaguely._

"You can't _escape_ from It…"

_ "(I wonder if…)" An idea popped into my head. "(…if that malicious voice is coming from the _dragon_.)"_

_ I decided to walk slowly over to the dragon's head, on martial standby in case events take a turn for the worst._

_ "_You can't _endure_ against It…_" The malicious voice seemed to grow more stalwart._

_ I could hear the malicious voice grow stronger as I crept closer to the decapitated dragon's head. I didn't drop my guard because I had a hunch that this head was still alive and somehow speaking to me. I stopped walking closer once the dragon's head was within kicking distance._

_ Upon further inspection, I noticed that there was no possible way for this dragon to speak orally because its entire lower jaw was missing, as well as its tongue. Because its lower jaw was missing, blood and saliva spilled onto the soil below. Instantly, I realized that there was no _possibility_ of it to speak, especially since its head was detached from its heart, lungs, and vocal cords—if it had any—, as well as it being overall _dead_ both upon first glance and clinically._

_ Be that as it may, its eyes were open, albeit appeared soulless and vacant._

_ Not much reason went into these next three spoken words of mine, since I had little idea what was communicating with me._

_"What is '_It_'?" I said to the cadaverous dragon head, assuming that it was capable of speech._

* * *

><p><span>(End of My Flashback)<span>

"(What _is_ 'It'?)" I thought extensively as to what the dragon told me earlier, before I was knocked out by a stab of its tail. After thinking hard enough, I walked closer to the Red Sea, facing the large body of water in the process and staring up at the luminous full moon, as well as the apparently infinite cluster of stars and galaxy gases that stood out in the night sky above.

"(Whatever _'It'_ is… if _'It'_ is important, then the dragon will return and repeat itself whenever it feels like it.)"

I uncrossed my arms and did an about-face to face the area where the Berry tree is, only I chose to scan the entire area around the tree. In doing so, I saw no head, body, or tail of the dragon. I didn't even see the unclassified lower jaw of the dragon. Albeit I _did_ see blood stains on the floor, despite the dim light of the night.

"(I'll bet that dragon is recovering at this particular moment…_some_where…wanting to return to me vindictively, with whatever it has to explain.)"

I turned back towards the Red Sea and squatted down to cup my hands in the water and clean my face with the saltwater, so that I could remove the excess coagulated blood adjacent of my left eye, closing my left eye in the process.

"(If that happens and assuming that it grows more powerful, I'll have to sharpen my abilities to be much better prepared for its possible return.)"

I stopped cleaning my face with water and used my sleeves to dry off the excess water. Next, I retrieved a new white shirt from my S1-GS device and swapped it with the dragon blood-soaked shirt that I was currently wearing.

"(I never would've thought that I'd face _some_thing that could rival my endurance…)" I thought while swapping shirts and then placing the marred shirt away within the S1-GS device.

Still with the S1-GS device at hand, I retrieved an eye patch from it.

"(*Sigh*) (At least I still have _one_ eye that works properly…)" I thought before placing the eye patch on my left eye, and then wrapping its strap all around my head. I was still holding onto the S1-GS device after placing the eye patch, since I needed it for one last thing.

After doing so, I began to hear small splashing sounds to my left and at ground level. I looked at what was causing it, only to see the green iguana, with my blood on its mouth, rinsing its mouth in the same manner that I was, but without using hands. It was simply rinsing itself the same way a bird does, by dipping its head in water, shaking it off, and repeating.

Once the green iguana was done rinsing itself, it came close to my leg and began to climb onto me as if I were a tree. It stopped once it had reached my shoulder and perched itself there, almost as if it were a parrot. I petted it a little on the top of its head and it growled softly and licked my finger, liking my kindness to it.

"(It's probably best to get some sleep now, especially after this _malicious_ day that I had today,)" I thought to myself, knowing how brutal today was due to the dragon that I fought earlier.

I walked over to the tree and then I held the S1-GS device in front of me, saying "S1-GS withdrawal: one standalone hammock" before pressing the upside-down button and expelling one standalone hammock, as I requested. I turned the button on the center of the S1-GS device back to normal position and stored it away in its respective holster. Next, I aligned the standalone hammock to its proper position, where all of its legs were on the ground, and the hammock was shaped like a banana.

"(It's warm enough tonight,)" I thought to myself, getting a feel for the temperature. "(I won't need a blanket.)"

I removed both shoulder/holster straps for the S1-GS and S2-PTSDO devices, and then hung them on one of the legs of the standalone hammock. After doing so, I removed the green iguana from my shoulder and placed it on the end of the standalone hammock, and then placed _myself_ on it as well. The Green Iguana snuggled up to my right side for warmth, and immediately made itself comfortable before falling asleep, snoring lightly simultaneously.

I couldn't help but look at how comfortable that lizard was beside me. I gave it a few strokes across the spines on its back, and then placed my hands comfortably on my belly, with a warm smile as well.

Just as I was about to sleep, I heard the flapping of wings and immediately felt the feathers of all five white cockatoos on my hair. I could tell that they had encircled my head and were resting comfortably when huddled together.

Soon after, I felt the remaining four green iguanas encircle my arms, and one of them decided to place itself beneath my hands and had to shove my hands upward to place itself between my hands and my belly. Everyone fell asleep immediately, comfortable with where they placed themselves.

However, the only one who didn't fall asleep is me, and not for any insomnia-related reasons or purposeful reasons.

"(For their sake, I hope I'm comfortable in this position so that I don't turn in the middle of the night,)" I thought moments before falling asleep myself.

* * *

><p>"All the stories are fictions. What matters is which fiction you believe." —Orson Scott Card (199) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

* * *

><p>What I've updated my profile with prior to this chapter: new Elemental Aura Abilities (and updated information on older ones), info on the S2-PTSDO device, new song links and my table of contents.<p>

A little foreshadowing: the next four chapters are on Lucario's side of the story.

Unless my fingers are broken, I'll still keep on writing. I won't let my health get the better of me.

Be that as it may, I've still got to watch my health.

Then again, my collapsed lung was sopntaneous, simply caused for being tall in height.


	8. Chapter II (2)

My first FanFic, and I'm already eight chapters in within _just _over three months, receiving over 649 total views to my story. I have my viewers to thank for this.

For those who are concerned with my health, I can assure you that I'm feeling great. It's been over a month since I was released from the hospital, and I've resumed my normal life.

On my free time, I write (about a page a day) and play video games (_Pokemon White_, _Solatorobo: Red the Hunter_, _Super Mario 3D Land_, and _Mario and Luigi: Superstars Saga _are what I'm playing currently). And on the long run, I continue working part-time at Subway (love their sandwiches, and I never would've thought that I'd find myself working there) and plan on attending college late February, to become a Veterinary Technician.

...But enough of my personal life and back to this story.

For starters, no new songs this chapter. Didn't seem appropriate for what I wrote.

Lucario begins his career in Team Rocket. Where does it go for him? Just cross the border below this sentence and find out.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter II (2): Welcome to Team Rocket<strong>

After Lucario's and Wanderer's unfortunate capture by Team Rocket and their leader Giovanni, they were both transported, along with the members and leader of Team Rocket, via four helicopters. The four helicopters traveled away from the forest locale from which Lucario and Wanderer both resided in, and any possible chance of Lucario and Wanderer returning to their beloved forest home faded away.

The four helicopters traveled beyond the forest and continued onward for hours, never needing to make pit stops for refueling, especially when they flew through the entire night. Along the way, Team Rocket hovered over numerous forms of nature.

Eventually, at daybreak, the four helicopters passed by a famous mountain range that resides directly between the cities Pewter and Cerulean, within the tranquil Kanto region.

The mountain range that Team Rocket and the captive Aura Pokémon passed over from within the four helicopters is known as Mt. Moon, famous for its Moon Stones—stones that help certain species of Pokémon evolve—and Clefairy sightings. However, this mountain range was of no importance to Team Rocket. What is important is crossing over Mt. Moon and venturing further north, miles away from Kanto.

The four helicopters passed by Mt. Moon and continued flying onward. Beyond Mt. Moon lied another mountain range: an uncharted, un_named_, hundreds of miles away from any city or civilization type of mountain range.

The perfect place for Team Rocket's Main Headquarters…

The four helicopters descended onto the helicopter landing fields nearby the main entrance of the large Team Rocket HQ building, which resided on a massive plateau that equally resided between two mountains.

The building is an impressive thirty stories tall, five stories _deep_—the basement stories—and as wide as a plane hangar. It holds all that Team Rocket needs for their criminal operations— money, Pokémon, vehicles, weapons, etc—and their premeditated plan for world domination.

Once the four helicopters touched down on the helicopter landing pads—in the shape of an H within a wide circle—, all seventeen human passengers, and numerous captive Pokémon passengers—Wanderer and Lucario included, as you know already—within their respective Poké Balls have unloaded themselves from the helicopters and proceeded to enter the HQ building.

Giovanni calmly stepped out of his respective helicopter and was immediately greeted by a nearby Grunt.

"Welcome back, sir," the Grunt said loyally. "What can I do for you?"

Giovanni simply retrieved the black and red "Team Rocket's Poké Ball", which had Lucario within it, from his orange suit pocket.

"Here," Giovanni said to the subordinate Grunt before handing the spherical capsule over to him. "Have this Pokémon placed in the HQ basement cells immediately. If necessary, use any means to knock it out of consciousness, but _don't_ kill it. I'll prepare with its admission procedures."

"…Uh, sure…" The Grunt said, surprised not by the request, but by the fact that the words "admission" and "Pokémon" were used together.

Before he could question Giovanni's reasons, he noticed that his boss was already past the doors of the HQ building. Also, before the Grunt could follow Giovanni and ask why he said what he did, a line of the remaining sixteen Grunts has already formed in front of the Grunt holding "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" (Lucario) in his hand.

All of the Grunts, in tandem, handed over the few Pokémon that they've captured into basic Poké Balls to him and then walked towards the Team Rocket HQ building. The Grunt in the back of the line flashed the used Great Ball—which had _Wanderer_ within it—nearby his face before giving it to him and walking off to the entrance.

The Grunt was now unexpectedly left holding onto two dozen Poké Balls, a few Great Balls, and one "Team Rocket's Poké Ball". He somehow managed to hold on to them all, albeit having second thoughts of the action he made of showing up in front of Giovanni in the first place.

"(I'd better do this task at hand…)" the Grunt thought before entering the entrance of the building, precariously so that he wouldn't drop a single Poké Ball.

Just as Giovanni said earlier, all of the Pokémon should be placed in the HQ's basement cells. The Grunt decided to take the elevator to reach the first basement floor—Floor B1. Once there, he decided to enter a specific room, one where he could deposit the captured Pokémon into cells without actually going _towards_ the cells.

The method of doing so involved teleportation.

Within the specific room, there was a massive cylindrical-shaped machine in the room that was multi-layered in both steel and bulletproof glass. Poké Balls are placed on the outside of the machine and the Pokémon come out remotely _within_ the walls of the machine, in a manner which involves a simple redirection of the released red energy.

The Grunt decided to teleport the Pokémon within the basic Poké Balls first. One by one, twenty-four assorted Pokémon—all of which dwelled in the forest from which they were captured from—were transported into different holding cells, all of which encumbered a few floors below the basement floor that the Grunt currently resided in.

With those out of the way, the Grunt decided to take care of the Great Balls and the solitary "Team Rocket's Poké Ball". He figured that the Pokémon within them were stronger Pokémon that needed to be captured with stronger Poké Ball models.

One by one, he was down to the last Great Ball in the pile, unimpressed by the Pokémon he saw earlier. Once he placed the final Great Ball in the teleportation machine and had the Pokémon released within the machine, the Grunt was in for an unorthodox surprise.

Wanderer emerged from within the machine through a brilliant red light. It was standing up upon reforming and looked briefly around itself, questioning its current location. The instant that Wanderer saw the Grunt, it suddenly began to attempt to attack it, only to ram the clear glass and stagger back a few steps. Afterwards, it attempted to break the glass with brute force.

"What the hell?" the Grunt thought when he saw the abnormally light-furred Lucario struggle to escape from the impenetrable glass. "(Is this Lucario from the mountains? What in the world is it doing in a forest?)"

"_Where the hell am I?_" Wanderer spoke telepathically while trying to bust its way out of the machine through brute force alone. "_Who the hell are you?_"

"(It talks too?)" The Grunt thought to himself, stunned by the exotic Lucario that was captured from the forest.

Wanderer continued to punch, stab—with the golden paw-spikes on the back of its paws—and kick at the glass in order to try and escape. It struck with enough force to actually give the multi-layered bulletproof glass a run for its money, and actually managed to begin _cracking_ the glass through one of its multiple layers.

However, in doing so, it dulled the _hell_ out of its paw-spikes and actually began to draw blood from the top layer of skin from its feet and fists due to fragmenting glass. This caused the glass to begin to be stained mildly sanguine as it continued to strike away, tolerant to the pain that each attack inflicted upon its body.

Seeing the glass begin to shatter made the Grunt take protective measures. He cautiously moved to the side of the machine and pressed one of the buttons on it.

"_Release me! I demand that you—!_" Wanderer was brutally cut short when 100,000 volts of _electricity_ illuminated the entire container and made Wanderer immediately pass out and collapse onto the floor—with a loud thud due to the 2000% increase in weight of being a Steel-Type Pokémon.

The Aura Pokémon now resided face-down on the floor, smoking as if lit on fire and quickly extinguished, with its chest-spike embedded down to the root into the floor below. Its tail was made limp and dropped to the floor. It was also drooling from the sudden electrical shock and was also bleeding significantly from its feet and paws after using them on jagged glass. The nasty electric shock also gave it second-degree burns to its feet, and partial burns across its entire body.

"(They _really_ need to tell me what is inside of these Poké Balls before I let the Pokémon out of it,)" the Grunt thought before pressing the teleportation button on the machine.

In an instant, the machine flashed a white light for only a second, and as if by magic, the Pokémon within the chamber has disappeared, albeit not from existence.

The Grunt now retrieved the final Poké Ball, the "Team Rocket's Poké Ball", and then placed it within the machine. He now moved for the final time to the side of the machine and pressed the button to open the Poké Ball remotely.

"(What Pokémon could Giovanni _possibly_ make one of us?)" He thought before stepping to the front of the machine and awaiting the answer to his question.

Once the black and red Poké Ball opened, a bright red flash of light emerged and rematerialized into Lucario. He was still unconscious, yet breathing normally. His body was reclined on the back wall of the machine, sitting down with his spine touching the wall. His head was pointed down, his arms were sagged and on his lap, his legs were stretched out across the machine's floor, with his toes curled up slightly, and his tail was bent to his left side. He still weighed twenty times that of normal, and so if he was tilted off to any one side, he would fall with a loud thud, as if a boulder dropped from a respectable height.

"(Another Lucario, huh…)" The Grunt thought to himself once more, before looking at the stagnancy of its appearance. "(The damn Pokémon is out like a broken light…)" He thought with pity in his mind. "(It must've taken a _hell_ of a beating to be in its current condition, but there's no visible damage on it. Perhaps Giovanni subdued it before capturing it…?)"

The Grunt pressed the button to teleport Lucario and then retrieved the "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" once Lucario was transported a few floors down. The Grunt held the organization's custom Poké Ball and stared at it, thinking further at Giovanni's reasoning.

"(Well it's certainly larger and darker-furred than the average Lucario. I'll admit that much to you, Giovanni,)" The Grunt pondered further while staring at the glint on the black and red sphere, as well as the reflection that formed of the wielder. "(You must've seen something special about this Lucario that made you decide to capture it.)"

The Grunt set the "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" aside to where he set the previous Poké Balls and then had them teleported straight to Giovanni before walking outside of the room, still pondering why Giovanni captured Lucario back in the forest.

* * *

><p><em><span>8.1: Now Entering Team Rocket<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor B4): Basement Cells

Date: Unknown

Time: Unknown

"_Ugh, my body_…" Lucario woke up within his cell and quickly clutched onto his stomach as if it was the only thing in distress, when it is truly _everything_ of his body that ached.

"(What happened to me?)" Lucario pondered past events to realize what happened earlier.

* * *

><p>(Lucario's Flashback)<p>

_The immediate instant that Giovanni stopped thinking about Lucario's apparent lack of adaptability, a massive silver metallic tail suddenly shot out of the earth _behind_ Lucario._

_Much to Lucario's surprise—which was evident by the fact that his eyes suddenly opened up wide with shock—he didn't budge an inch, and his heart sank to as low as his feet._

_Before Lucario could react—or at least perform an about face to see what _specific_ Pokémon was behind him—that same silver tail quickly wrapped around Lucario _twice_, preventing him from wriggling himself free, since his arms were pinned to his body._

_The fact that his protruding chest-spike and two paw-spikes _not_ causing damage to the hostile target Pokémon immediately gave him all the information needed to confirm its identity. The Pokémon that used its metallic tail to bind his body was a Steel-Type, since it was both silver and as hard as steel._

_Only one Pokémon has that exotic tail and a long physique to match it, and he knew that it belonged to a Steelix._

_With only his entire head, feet—below the ankles—, and tail tip—with the rest of his tail forcefully bent down—exposed from Steelix's massive tail, Lucario found it near impossible to escape, since he currently had no free movement of his body whatsoever._

_He couldn't conjure an AURA SPHERE because it requires the use of his hands, and any oral-based attacks—such as HYPER BEAM, which he didn't know currently—, would be easily prevented and/or avoided by simply being tilted out of the way. He also had little experience with Fire-Type attacks, since he only knew EMBER. To top it off, he found it consecutively difficult to both breathe and remain conscious due to a lack of necessary oxygen and stifled blood flow that Steelix's tail was cutting off from him—a fatal hindrance to any Psychic-Type techniques._

_"(How…did…I…surrender myself…into…Giovanni's Pokémon…trap…?)" Lucario thought with a tone that wasn't a question. "(I…heard…something _else_…in…front…of me… I…know it…!)" His thoughts, as well as his brain, were succumbing to oxygenic starvation, so he knew that he had little time left until he was reluctantly at Giovanni's mercy._

_He didn't like the fact that he was slowly being enervated to unconsciousness at all, and he didn't like how it felt as equally. He could slowly feel his heartbeat increase in strength, not from excessive work, but because he was being encompassed tightly enough to have his chest-spike press onto his sternum. His head felt as if it was only half-full of his own blood, and his eyes were bulging somewhat out of proportion from Steelix's grip._

_The hostile Pokémon decided to expose itself and, as if it were a reanimated corpse buried into the dirt, rose with a wide arc and a low-pitched, earth-rumbling roar—a metaphor for its secondary Ground-Type attribute. It moved its head closer to the helpless Aura Pokémon, eyeing it with a horrible look on its face. It breathed on him with an atrocious scent in its breath, not that Lucario was able to smell it currently due to gradual suffocation, and an intimidating growl that would make a human easily empty the contents of their bowels._

_Lucario equally eyed it—and hated this Pokémon because it had abated him to nothing—but lacked the power currently to even _form_ a hateful countenance. He _knew_ the instant that he would fall unconscious, he would immediately be in possession by Giovanni, and would wake up soon after, working disrespectfully for him._

_"_D…d…d…d…da…_" Lucario could barely speak even with telepathy, since he was so starved of oxygen that he would blackout at any moment now._

_Giovanni grinned maliciously, eyeing the suppressed Aura Pokémon with a sense of eagerness. He was already beginning to visualize in his dark mind what he could accomplish with him in his organization's possession._

_And they all have one thing in common: inevitable global domination._

_Lucario averted his eyes from the facially-monstrous Steelix and stared on at Giovanni for as long as his remaining moments of consciousness allowed him to. His lungs were shrinking in terms of use, and his heart was weakening._

_"(Damn you, Giovanni! Damn you, Steelix!)" Was just one of the two thoughts that he desperately wanted to muster the strength to think. The second of the two thoughts was "(Who was burrowing underground in front of me?)"_

_"_D…d…_" The assorted colors currently observable by his failing eyes were grudgingly blending together to form black only, just like the aftermath of defeating Absol over thirteen years ago._

_"(You belong to me now, Aura Pokémon…)" Giovanni thought sinisterly and with a grin to match his tone of thoughts._

_Lucario finally lost the ability to stay alert and conscious. His eyes simply closed, without his neck going limp since Steelix's coils were too secure and too tight. He stopped breathing, and his heart was hardly beating once every _other_ second, the only thing keeping him alive. His weight also increased by 2000%—a defensive mechanism of the Steel-Type Pokémon—which didn't seem to add any effort to the Steelix that was currently wrapping it._

* * *

><p>(End of Lucario's Flashback)<p>

Lucario uncurled himself and stood up to see where he was. He found himself within a jail cell, with the side walls, floor, and ceiling made out of non-transparent multi-layered steel, and the front made out of six-inch-thick bulletproof glass. There were air vents on the floor that were so small that not even an amorphous Pokémon—such as a Ditto or a Vaporeon—could seep through, and yet fresh air is pumped in and siphoned away constantly.

Through the view of the looking glass, he could see that there was an adequately-lit hallway and see a few other cells for holding Pokémon within. However, due to the small size of each individual cell—eight feet long by eight feet wide by ten feet high—, and the fact that each wall of glass can connect through zigzags if a laser was shot at them and reflected, each cell was only able to see four cells in front of it, with a fair amount of blind spots.

Thankfully, Lucario's Aura Vision bypasses these blind spots and allows him to view everything around him, but he wasn't using it currently.

"(Son of a bitch, Giovanni…)" Lucario tightened both of his sore fists and then slammed them against the multi-layered glass _repeatedly_ in frustration. He would've kept going, if it weren't for unexpected interruptions.

"Keep it down over there," A fairly low-pitched voice moaned melancholically.

"Please stop pummeling the glass," A softer, more feminine voice complained.

"(What the…?)" Lucario immediately stopped when he heard two voices emanate from somewhere within the basement's cells, voices that were clearly in front of his cell—and conveniently able to bypass the thick glass walls with ease.

As if by instinct, Lucario quickly flashed his eyes gold, had his dreadlock-like appendages stand and quiver horizontally, and kept his eyes locked on to the blind spots of the cells in front of him. Aside from the very faint aura emanating from the glass and steel walls, two identifiable living objects could be seen sulking by the corner of the previously existent blind spots.

The first object that Lucario examined optically—which was sulking on the rightmost corner of the left cell to Lucario's front—emanated red aura (for freely expressing emotions), green aura (for peace), violet aura (for selflessness and laxness), grey aura (for simplicity, nonchalance, and wisdom), and miniscule amount of yellow aura (for joy, freedom, and energy). All of these colors were highly overshadowed and layered by an immense amount of dark yellow aura (for suffering from emotional and/or physical pain).

All of these aura colors filled in the respective body and exposed the shape of the body.

The body has the form of a plesiosaurus dinosaur, as well as the size of a four-door sedan. It has a large, horned shell covering its back, as well as stout flippers, a _very_ stubby tail, a long neck, one single horn on its forehead, and round, curly ears on the side of its head.

For those who don't know who this being is after having the body shape explained, it's a Lapras, and a very miserable one at that.

_**(National Pokédex entry #131: Lapras, the Transport Pokémon. It is a Water-Type and Ice-Type Pokémon that approximately measures 8' 02" and weighs around 485.0 lbs on average. It loves crossing the sea with people and Pokémon on its back. It understands human speech. However, at this particular moment, it'd be lucky to cross the floor with the **_**dust**_** collecting on its back.)**_

Lucario then examined the object that was sulking on the leftmost corner of the right cell to his front. This object emanated yellow-green aura (for persistence, power, and intimidating nature), orange aura (for a stalwart personality and an eagerness and fearlessness of trying something new or exciting), red aura (for a sense of materialism), lavender aura (for a strong sense in completing its goals), and silver aura (for an abundance in energy).

Just like the Lapras that is beside it—if the wall didn't separate them—, all of the auras that define its normal being were smothered by heavy amounts of dark yellow aura—which, as you know, identifies suffering from emotional and/or physical pain.

As for its body shape, many would say that it looks like a land-based shark, with highly developed arms and legs. It only has one sharp claw on the tips of each of its arms, as well as pectoral fins off to the side of each arm, both of which are pointed away from its overall body. Its tail is positioned vertically—like a shark's tail—and it has a dorsal fin on its back, with a small piece of it _deliberately_ missing. Its head seems to split off to its sides, giving it the appearance of a hammerhead shark. It has two protruding bone spikes on its thighs and near its shoulders—for an overall total of eight.

For those who don't know who the being is after having the body shape explained, it's a Garchomp, and it's just as miserable as the Lapras adjacent to its holding cell.

_**(National Pok**_é_**dex entry #445: Garchomp, the Mach Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and Ground-Type Pokémon that measures 6' 03" and weighs in at 209.4 lbs. on average. It is said that when one runs at high speed, its wings create blades of wind that can fell nearby trees. But don't get me started on the "running" issue.)**_

"(Who are these Pokémon?)" Lucario thought, never seeing Pokémon as exotic as these before.

Both the Garchomp and the Lapras removed themselves from their cell's blind spots and miserably dragged themselves to the front of their cells. They both saw Lucario utilizing his Aura Vision ability and knew that the instant that they decided to speak was the moment that they fully exposed themselves to the Aura Pokémon.

Thankfully, all of the Pokémon within Team Rocket HQ are on the same side, and there are only two sides here. Those two sides are "Team Rocket" and "Pokémon", where one governs over the other.

"I'll take it that you're a neophyte here, huh Aura Pokémon," the Garchomp said in a mildly disrespectful tone of voice.

(There's a reason that I'm saying _the_ on both _the_ Garchomp and _the_ Lapras).

"(Ugh, I can sense the deference from this Pokémon a mile away…)" Lucario thought sarcastically while discreetly reading the Garchomp's mind through his psychic and Aura Vision abilities. "_And you're not a neophyte here, _huh." Lucario mimicked the Garchomp's mildly disrespectful tone of voice, after reading its mind.

"(Psychic abilities, I see…)" the Garchomp thought after not considering Lucario's statement to be a sassy guess. "No, I'm not." It confirmed to Lucario.

The Aura Pokémon averted his eyes momentarily to the depressed Lapras and decided to speak to it, after reading its mind that is. "_And I'll assume that just like me, you _are_ a neophyte here, right?_" Lucario spoke to the depressed Lapras.

The Lapras nodded with a heavy head and then replied with a depressed tone, "Unfortunately, yes."

A few seconds went by before Garchomp interrupted, and that was so that the Mach Pokémon could realize that the voice sounded familiar.

"Besides your naiveté here, you're a Lucario, right?" The Garchomp continued to speak, looking to its left side, visualizing the Pokémon beyond the wall.

Lucario nodded in confirmation before turning off his Aura Vision ability. "_And what are you…_both_ of you supposed to be? I've never seen Pokémon like you two before._"

The Lapras was about to speak first, but was quickly intercepted by the Garchomp.

"Well, I'm a Garchomp. However, according to this Arceus-damned Team Rocket, I've been given the nickname 'Terra'. I've had it for my whole life here, ever since I was born, twenty long and encumbering years." Garchomp recalled past memories, and some of the pain that was embedded onto them.

The Lapras at Lucario's right had its dark green eyes widen in surprise. "(Oh crap…)" It thought to itself when it realized something important.

Lucario, setting aside questions about Garchomp's past, was a little curious to the nickname choice. He recalled how Tiny's nickname was related to its size compared to any other Riolu—while holding back any erupting emotion ever since what occurred to Tiny, as well as Sceptile, in the forest—, and so he figured that the Garchomp's nickname still applies in a similar manner.

"_Does 'Terra' mean anything?_" He said with curiosity.

When Lucario asked it that question, Terra actually had no idea what it meant. "Well…Uh…" Terra continued to ponder over its nickname's meaning, only it was wasting its time since it had no idea what it meant, despite having it for over _twenty_ years. "I believe it means…"

"It means 'Earth', which makes perfect sense to you, since your species have two different type attributes: Dragon-Type and Ground-Type." The Lapras, for a change, interrupted Terra.

"_Thank you…uh…_" Lucario was left silent due to a lack of information on the Transport Pokémon.

"I'm a Lapras, Lucario." The Lapras filled him in with new information. "And I have a nickname too. And unlike Terra, I actually _understand_ its meaning."

"(Oh crap…)" Terra had its golden eyes opened wide when it realized something important.

Both Lucario and Terra—albeit with its mind preoccupied—listened to what the Lapras has to say next.

"Team Rocket has given me the nickname 'Aqua', and it basically means 'Water'. It makes proper sense being given to me because I'm not only an Ice-Type Pokémon, but a Water-Type Pokémon as well. However, I don't like my nickname because it easily represents Team Rocket's 'possession' over me." Aqua said with a bit of frustration towards the end.

"_I see… Well, I don't have a nickname…_" Lucario said once Aqua was done speaking. "(Although, I can only imagine what Team Rocket will decide to nickname me…)"

"Uh oh…" Terra was now in full realization of something important.

Lucario became mildly confused of Terra's wide-eyed realization.

"Aqua… I helped Team Rocket capture you… I _personally_ fought you and weakened you…" Terra told both Aqua and Lucario, without warning. "I'm sorry."

Aqua already knew this fact and simply rolled its eyes. It realized this earlier and set it aside. However, Terra continued showing repentance.

"Throughout my life, I've helped Team Rocket capture hundreds, maybe _thousands_, of Pokémon. Many of them serve Team Rocket against their wishes, and those that have tried to rebel—or are considered useless—have been _killed_." Terra now began to cry profusely, and its voice was now temporarily broken from the excess crying. "All of this is _my_ fault and I'm so—"

"Don't_ be,_" Lucario said sharply to Terra, having heard enough.

Both Aqua and Terra were puzzled by Lucario's reaction. However, they remained silent—or at least Aqua did—and waited to see what he had to say next.

Lucario looked at Aqua first. "_Aqua, you shouldn't show misery or frustration for being here, no matter how much it pains you._"

Aqua nodded after realizing what Lucario said and understanding it.

Lucario then looked at Terra. "_Terra, as much sorrow and encumbrance your role in Team Rocket brings you, you shouldn't regret your actions over your _'career'_, or the Pokémon that have lost their lives due to your _'career'_._"

"How…how can you say such…such _heartless_ things?" Terra said with somewhat _more_ sorrow now.

"What's _wrong_ with you? Where are your feelings?" Aqua joined in with confusion and somewhat growing anger.

"_Are you two not thinking clearly?_" Lucario stayed calm, despite the harsh aura that had surrounded both Aqua and Terra.

Lucario's words have cleared the judgment of both traumatized Pokémon.

"_What makes you both think that all of this _malice_ is originating from both of your actions? Have you ever thought about what was the _true_ cause of all of this pain?_" Lucario continued to get his point through to them.

"_Terra, you of all Pokémon should know the true cause of all of this,"_ Lucario briefly pointed his left paw at Terra, causing the Mach Pokémon to stop crying enough to think it over. "_After all, you _work_ for it._"

"…!" Both Terra and Aqua realized the true culprit of all of this.

"How blind was I…" Terra wiped away the tears that it shed, realizing that they were immaterial.

"(It's so painfully obvious…)" Aqua thought to itself the true culprit of all of this suffering.

"_They're responsible for all of this malice, Team Rocket!_" Lucario continued, only with a bolder tone. "_They're responsible for countless innocent deaths! They're responsible for using us Pokémon for their crimes and purposes. They're responsible for all of this pain and suffering!_"

* * *

><p>(Lucario's Flashback)<p>

_However, that moment quickly reversed for the worst. From out of nowhere, multiple Koffing and a few Weezing ambushed the two Pokémon standing above the ash heap that was once the tree house. Sceptile was easily caught off guard. Tiny however, was too fatigued to react. All of the Koffing and some of the Weezing clumped themselves closely around Sceptile and Tiny, with the last remaining Weezing engulfing its entire gaseous being onto Sceptile's right arm, much to Sceptile's surprise._

_Lucario watched on at this scene, his tension rising._

_That Weezing wasn't being cut by LEAF BLADE since it's a possessed clump of gas, and simply stared at the Forest Pokémon with both heads expressing an evil glare in their eyes. All of the Koffing and Weezing did the same, even to the weakened Emanation Pokémon._

_"SELFDESTRUCT!" The Grunts who owned the Koffing shouted._

_"EXPLOSION!" the Grunts who owned the Weezing shouted._

_"_...What…?_" Lucario was stunned to hear those two attacks being ordered. He swore he felt his whole physical being sink with dread at the thought of having the Grunts _willingly_ put the lives of their own Pokémon's in jeopardy, just to take out other Pokémon._

_Within one moment of those words, the Koffing and Weezing didn't hesitate to utilize an attack that would likely eliminate their existence in a heartbeat. They quickly made themselves glow a blinding white light, preparing to explode._

_Sceptile and Tiny remained stationary, since they knew that they couldn't escape because they were surrounded. They closed their eyes, fatalistically accepting death, hoping that it would be quick and painless._

_Tiny even went as far as clinging onto Sceptile's left leg, as if it was a farewell hug._

_However, Lucario wasn't going to accept that _kneeling_ down. Quickly, he got up on his two furry feet and used EXTREMESPEED to sprint towards the targeted Pokémon, planning to retrieve them and free them from a fiery death. Just as quickly as he ran, he exposed his cover to the Team Rocket Grunts in the process with that same gale-making speed._

_"What in the world?" The very same Grunt that did the double-take earlier to a shrub was the first to notice Lucario, quickly followed by the remainder of the Grunts. He wasn't flabbergasted by the fact that a Lucario was here in a forest—since they're more common, despite being seldom seen by humanity, in cold and tall mountain ranges. He was more discombobulated by the fact as to why the Lucario he saw was charging _towards_ the intended explosion site._

_"(Almost…there…)" Lucario could feel enough dread and suspense in his heart to the point of seeing the world slow down in front of him, adrenaline surging to his mind and slowing down time before him. He could even _feel_ his own accelerated heartbeat pulsate within his head, since he can't hear it with his ears due to the rush of wind caused by EXTREMESPEED._

_He made one final leap across the wooden remains of the tree house, paying little attention to the fact that his sense of time slowed down before him at the moment. He landed and made one final dash towards Sceptile and Tiny._

_Sceptile opened its eyes for a brief moment, noticing Lucario running towards it. Its eyes widened quickly, yet Tiny's eyes remained clamped shut, its being fully cringed for fear of death._

_"…Lucario…?" Sceptile said at the sight of the Aura Pokémon, here of all places._

"…Scep—"

**BOOM!**

* * *

><p>(End of Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"_After all, you both aren't the only ones who've suffered from Team Rocket's malice._" Lucario said this and had immediately rendered both Terra and Aqua surprised.

"What do you mean?" Aqua was surprised by this unexpected piece of truth.

"_They've killed two of my three closest friends… and my third friend is somewhere amongst Team Rocket as well…_" Lucario shed a couple of tears before wiping them away. "(I can sense it… Wanderer's around here in this room…somewhere…and unconscious…)"

"…" Both Terra and Aqua were stunned by Lucario's back story.

"_Because of this, I despise Team Rocket and wish to decimate it and leave no record of its existence,_" Lucario gritted his teeth with hate. "_I hate their leader—Giovanni—the most and would love to see him tortured alive before dying the worst way possible…through _my_ power._"

The feelings of suffering, as well as the dark yellow aura surrounding them, began to lift away from both Terra and Aqua as Lucario continued inspiring them with his powerful words.

"_I'll fight to the _death_ if I have to, in order to save all of the Pokémon within Team Rocket's shackles and then _crush_ Giovanni with my bare paws._" Lucario lifted both of his paws to his face, looked at them, and flexed them a few times before setting them aside.

"It would be near impossible to do this, _alone_ especially," Terra exposed an important hindrance about Lucario's future goals.

"_I know…_" Lucario said with ease, admitting the difficulty of the enormous task in front of him.

"You may _die_ in failure," Aqua exposed another hindrance about Lucario's future goals.

"_As long as I accomplish something that continues beyond my life, I'll die fighting,_" Lucario spoke once more, fearlessly about death and failure.

"I wish to fight by your side and clause," Terra said without second thoughts.

"I'll join your side to indubitably eliminate Team Rocket," Aqua felt the courage to fearlessly join Lucario's side.

Lucario's eyes were widened by their sudden choice of actions. He was in mild disbelief at how quickly both Pokémon would gamble their lives at the chance of freedom and eradication of Team Rocket. "_Do you speak the truth?_" Lucario spoke in shock, rather hearing them speak the truth than sensing it from them.

Concisely, both Aqua and Terra nodded.

Lucario smiled warmly at both of his newfound friends. "_Thank you, _both_ of you… And since we're all in this together, I ask from you both these two things to ensure our survival: patience and power._"

"We'll need both to survive residing in this organization, right?" Aqua felt like being sure.

Lucario nodded at Aqua, confirming its suspicions.

"(*Sigh*) Good. I'm covered then." Aqua said with a small sigh of relief.

"Power is all that has kept me alive and…_useful_ for the past twenty years," Terra said to Aqua.

"_We'll need time so that we all can grow accustomed to this HQ and learn it from the inside out,_" Lucario continued. "_Ask any many Pokémon as you can if they want any part of this._ _If we have more Pokémon joining this clause, it'll drastically increase our chances at accomplishing this large-scale goal. After all, it's only the three of us currently in allegiance, and I can guarantee that we won't get by on our own._"

"Agreed," Aqua said.

"It pains me to say this, but despite my 'career' with Team Rocket, I was recently transferred to their main HQ. I know nothing about this building." Terra decided to get that off of its chest before waiting any longer.

"_It's alright, we'll manage._" Lucario said nonchalantly. "_Especially since all three of us are blind here in not knowing the entrance from the exit._"

"Since we're now an allegiance, what should we name this group?" Aqua suggested.

"…" All of the Pokémon thought to themselves what would be a perfect name for their newly-formed allegiance. A solid ten seconds went by before Lucario came up with what first idea that popped into his head.

"_What about 'Team Liberator'? How does that sound?_" Lucario said.

Both Terra and Aqua thought that name over, and then nodded in agreement.

"It suits our intended purpose," Terra gave its opinion about the name. "But it seems highly…plagiaristic."

"I don't care. We'll go with it," Aqua was content with the new name.

"_So, 'Team Liberator' it is then,_" Lucario agreed with them.

"What should we do first?" Terra inquired.

"Why don't we learn more about each other?" Aqua was the first to bring up an idea. "We all can begin with our origin and proceed to where we are today. That way, we learn a bit more about each other, since we've all just recently met."

"_Alright then,_" Lucario agreed.

"I'm game." Terra agreed as well, making the choice unanimous.

"Lucario, why don't you begin," Aqua decided that he should begin. "I figure that you're the most enigmatic of us three."

"_What makes you say that?_" He wondered.

Aqua simply shrugged its flippers, not saying exactly why because it was a base instinct.

"_I see…_" Lucario muttered. "_I'll begin then._"

Both Terra and Aqua were all ears at the present moment.

"(Where do I begin?)" Lucario collected his thoughts, paced around his holding cell temporarily, and searched for the best word choice to recall his origin.

Once he did so, he began.

"_I was born from an egg in the middle of an—_"

All of a sudden, doors could be heard opening from one of the two ends of the hallway. After stopping telepathy dead in its tracks, Lucario instinctively utilized his innate Aura Vision ability once more to scan beyond his limited range of vision. He quickly looked to his right side, where the door opened.

Immediately, four Team Rocket Grunts entered orderly in 2-by-2 formations, and then they marched over to the wall, two on each side. They were armed with semi-automatic rifles and were positioned orderly as if they were British guards.

_**Click… Clack… Click… Clack… Click… Clack…**_

Their leader, Giovanni, walked in with slow steps and with his arms crossed behind his back. Lucario was able to _hear_ him coming due to the shoes that Giovanni was wearing, his powerful sense of hearing, and the echo that the hallway had.

"_Arceus-dammit…_" Lucario muttered with half of his normal volume of voice.

"What is it?" Terra curiously inquired Lucario.

"_There are four Team Rocket Grunts, and their leader Giovanni is with them,_" Lucario answered Terra's question without looking away at the five approaching Team Rocket members.

_**Click… Clack… Click… Clack… Click…! Clack…!**_

Giovanni moved in front of the Grunts and they followed behind him in their 2-by-2 formation. Lucario could see them all approaching with his active Aura Vision and hear Giovanni come closer with his ears.

"(I can hear that gratuitous footwear coming from a mile away before seeing him…)" Lucario thought with a disgusted look on his face.

_**Click! Clack! Click! Clack! Click! Clack!**_

"(That click-clacking of his shoes will drive me more berserk than an enraged Ursaring if I listen to it enough,)" Lucario gritted his fangs and turned off his Aura Vision ability when Team Rocket was close enough to his location.

He stopped gritting his teeth once Giovanni walked within his normal field of view, as well as the Grunts with guns nearby him. The Grunts, as if they were bodyguards, had their eyes locked-on to Lucario, ready to act first if Lucario decided to.

Giovanni pressed a button on one of the walls nearby Lucario's holding cell and immediately, the transparent bulwark between Giovanni and an irritated Aura Pokémon sank below the ground within a few seconds.

Both beings stood motionless and opposite of each other. Giovanni smirked sinisterly once in front of the Aura Pokémon. Lucario scowled and growled mildly with hateful sanguine eyes that matched his current emotions. The Grunts with guns ogled Lucario while on standby. And both Terra and Aqua looked on tensely, knowing that they had no part in this, and yet were curious nevertheless.

"So Aura Pokémon, I'm assuming you're enjoying your all-expense-paid stay here at Team Rocket Main Headquarters?" Giovanni maliciously inquired the Aura Pokémon before him. "Do you _feel_ better after my Steelix BIND-ed you into submission?"

Lucario stopped growling enough to answer with a rudely concise "_No_", since he was still feeling sore all over his body. His neck, paws, shoulders, sternum, and tail base were the sorest of all his body parts.

"I didn't think so, albeit it doesn't matter anyway." Giovanni continued. "You'll grow accustomed to Team Rocket and our requirements, especially since I've already made arrangements to have you become _more_ than just another tool." Giovanni uncrossed his arms and stopped smirking, and spoke with a more serious and unusually trustworthy tone.

Lucario made the motion of raising one of his "eyebrows" in confusion. "_What could you possibly be driveling on about?_"

Giovanni stepped backwards and out of Lucario's holding cell and simply made the hand gesture for "follow me".

Lucario didn't want to accompany him with all of his heart, but looking at not only the cold stare of Giovanni, but the four well-trained Rocket Grunts as well, made him realize that he had no other choice. Lucario reluctantly walked forward and as he was bypassing the four Grunts with guns, he swore he could feel time slow down within his mind due to discomfort, almost as if he crossed through a denser atmosphere of aura. He looked at the weaponry that they each were brandishing proficiently and was suddenly curious about them.

"(Why are these humans wielding black metal sticks? What possible purpose can it serve them?)" Lucario pondered sagaciously and curiously at their weaponry, not knowing what to make of it in the least.

Time regained stable momentum within Lucario's mind once he passed by the nonexistent bulwark. He stopped once he was within arm's reach of Giovanni, and when one of the Grunts re-closed his holding cell—so that the next Pokémon to utilize it wouldn't escape.

They both stared into each other's eyes with purpose in their stare: Lucario's hate and Giovanni's envisioned opportunity. They were never this close to each other, face to face. Because of this, they both realized that they were actually _equal_ in height—if Lucario's ears are included unfortunately—and so he had to look up to Giovanni's stature.

"Move ahead now, and _stop_ once you've reached the door," Giovanni said concisely to the Aura Pokémon and pointing to his left simultaneously, desiring him to go down the path first, so that Giovanni and his armed Grunts keep ten sharp eyes on him.

"…" Lucario only obeyed because he sensed faint traces of aura emanating from Wanderer ahead and wondered about its current condition.

The Team Rocket members gave Lucario a two-second lead, so that they could keep an omni-present view on him. They followed him after two seconds had passed since Lucario began walking towards the open door at the end of the hallway to the right of his holding cell.

Both Terra and Aqua, realizing how immaterial they currently were, still decided that they were both curious enough to listen in and observe until they no longer could, which was when they all began to leave their constricted field of vision.

Lucario walked past holding cell after holding cell, finding no sign of Wanderer, let alone any _other_ unfortunate Pokémon—somewhat to his relief. He recalled seeing faint traces of Wanderer's aura near the end of the hallway, and anxiously walked gradually faster to reach its holding cell, _almost_ giving Giovanni and his Grunts enough concern to react against this.

Once he had finally noticed Wanderer in its holding cell, Lucario was immediately taken back at what condition the mountain-dwelling Aura Pokémon was in. His closest friend was face-down, fuming smoke, had its chest-spike underground, was drooling due to the endured electric shock, and was bleeding from all four of its paws due to the effects of the jagged glass. Wanderer was also given second-degree burns to its feet, and partial burns across its entire body.

Lucario was _beyond_ enraged at what he saw, knowing that Team Rocket was easily to blame for this, especially since he knew of Wanderer's state of being prior to his capture. Anger and sadness strangled at his mind, granting Lucario immense emotional pain. His fists constricted so tightly that he found himself having his paw-spikes glow with very faint energy. "(What has Team Rocket _done_ to you?)" Lucario was about to cry once more, at the cruelty that Team Rocket inflicts.

Giovanni, not interested in what Lucario was feeling, only further salted his emotional wounds by doing this: he stopped within two feet of him and coldly said, "What are you doing? I ordered you to stop _only_ when you've—"

With his emotions now _severely_ unstable, both of Lucario's fists now themed two different attacks: his left fist brimmed with white light—for MACH PUNCH—and his right paw-spike grew three twelve-inch-long claws—for METAL CLAW. Both were going to be used on Giovanni.

Lucario roared before swiveling to face Giovanni before punching him with a left hook, square in the left cheek, with the Pokémon technique MACH PUNCH—a punch attack that not only moves faster than the human eye can follow, but can deliver a blow first and from a distance if strong enough.

Giovanni never saw the left hook coming and only grunted in pain when punched. He was violently leaned to his right, with a swollen cheek and chipped molars. He temporarily lost the ability to think rationally and react, since the lightning-fast attack made him mentally cringe.

This gave Lucario the chance to eagerly follow up his MACH PUNCH attack with METAL CLAW.

Lucario, with exposed canine-like teeth and dilated blood-red eyes, swung his right arm towards Giovanni's lowered face, beginning to launch a right-to-left horizontal claw swipe. Giovanni regained enough mental activity to notice the attack coming, and realized that if it hits, it could slice open his skull and cut at his brain, therefore killing him instantly.

Unfortunately, before the attack could land, the four Team Rocket Grunts with guns reacted quickly, but not quickly enough to prevent Lucario's sudden MACH PUNCH, since it's a first-hit attack.

Silently, they brought up their weaponry and had the red laser-pointers from their scopes all aimed precisely towards the METAL CLAWs on Lucario's right paw. In perfect synchronization, they all pulled the trigger.

_**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

Four shots so close to each other—in both distance and timing—fired precisely from the rifles and upon the intended target of Lucario's METAL CLAWs, _shattering_ them instantly and negating Lucario's follow-up attack. The METAL CLAW fragments fell to the floor like broken glass and then disappeared because it was only transformed energy.

Both Terra and Aqua heard the gunshots—as well as Lucario's primal roar earlier—and questioned what that was about.

Lucario could feel a strong burning sensation emanate from the very _bone_ that's protruding from the back of his right paw. He retracted his arm _inches_ before slamming it into the left side of Giovanni's face, and clutched it tightly. He examined the paw-spike on it once the METAL CLAW energy depleted from it, and found out that the paw-spike is now _half_ its original length.

"_What the hell?_" Lucario was stunned after seeing how his right paw-spike shattered so suddenly.

When Lucario looked at the four Grunts with guns, they had their semi-automatic rifles aimed directly at his skull. The red laser-pointers were all aimed on his forehead, with each circle of red light overlapping each other, giving it the appearance of only one red light. The four Grunts with guns already had their fingers on the triggers and knew all too well that they don't need _specific_ orders to fire or not. They were only given this one order by Giovanni when he assigned them, four brilliant marksmen, as his personal bodyguards: fire freely at any hostiles.

"(Did their black metal sticks just _shatter_ my METAL CLAWs instantaneously?)" Lucario thought, eyeing the weapons and the red laser-pointer light that they emanated.

The four Grunts with guns were about to fire again and kill Lucario senselessly.

…However...

"Cease fire! Cease FIRE!" Giovanni spoke with a swollen right cheek and broken molars.

Immediately, the four Grunts with guns pulled up their semi-automatic weapons and the red laser-pointer's light disappeared from Lucario's forehead. Despite the order, they continued to stare into Lucario as if he was on their little black book's "Most Wanted" list, especially since he struck their leader so swiftly with the intention of murder.

Giovanni repositioned himself and wiped off the blood that was dripping off of his mouth with a handkerchief that he had in his suit pocket—because the blood would stain the sleeves of his orange suit if he decided to wipe the blood with them. He turned around to the four Grunts with guns and noticed they had already followed his immediate orders.

"Don't kill this Pokémon! I want it alive!" Giovanni spat his words (and chipped molars) angrily.

All four Grunts simply nodded in understanding. They didn't question Giovanni's reasons or purpose in doing so. They just follow his orders.

"('Don't kill this Pokémon?')" Lucario pondered while still clutching his right paw and the shattered right paw-spike, astonished at the weaponry that the four Grunts with guns had. "(Those metal sticks are actually capable of dealing death?)"

Giovanni regained his composure by collecting the floored chipped molars that were broken by Lucario's MACH PUNCH. He decided to hold on to them by placing them in the same handkerchief and then into his pocket, especially since they can be put back—in a given time period—as if nothing happened.

He juggled his jaw, making sure that it wasn't broken and functioned properly before finally facing Lucario once more, with a bit more consciousness on not to provoke him if he was ever emotionally distraught.

"Is something the matter, Lucario?" Giovanni said, wondering why Lucario looked so puzzled all of a sudden.

Lucario was too distracted and astonished at the Grunt's semi-automatic rifle to be feeling anything else. He looked at his broken paw-spike before setting it down to his side and then said "_What are those humans wielding in their possession?_" with absolute curiosity.

Giovanni, setting aside Lucario's previous actions, decided to introduce Lucario to the weaponry that almost killed him in a blink of an eye. He felt as if a talking Pokémon was capable of comprehension, and therefore had a right to know—to an extent anyway. It would also quell his fading frustration as well.

He did an about-face and asked one Grunt "May I borrow your weapon?"

Without second thought, the Grunt let Giovanni borrow his weapon.

"This, to us humans, would be known simply as a gun." Giovanni said while strapping the rifle onto his shoulder.

Lucario listened attentively, as if he were a student in a classroom lecture.

"This type of gun model in _particular_ however, is known as a rifle." Giovanni explained in detail.

"(So a rifle is a _type_ of gun?)" Lucario continued to ponder and listen.

"Rifles are classified by the long barrel that they possess up front," Giovanni scrolled his left hand's finger across the long barrel of the rifle, "as well as the butt back here." Giovanni tapped the back of rifle a few times with his right hand's finger.

"(Who the hell derives a part of a rifle with the hindquarters?)" Lucario thought, unsure to the human's methods and reasons for doing so.

"The proper firing position is to have the back of the rifle placed on the front of your firing hand's shoulder, and for extra stability, your non-trigger hand below the barrel of the rifle," Giovanni said before visually demonstrating the proper firing position to Lucario, only he aimed it to his right, away from harming Lucario, or provoking him, as well as from Wanderer. He also didn't have his finger on the trigger, so as to not accidentally fire the weapon.

"(So that's how it's held…)" Lucario paid _especially_ close attention to how Giovanni wielded the rifle.

"There are a fair amount of accessories that any gun can have equipped onto it," Giovanni retracted the gun to his front so that he could explain each accessory in depth. "We have the scope, which can be seen through to allow for more accurate fire," Giovanni pointed his finger at the scope at the top of the gun. "We have the bipod at the front tip of the gun, which allows for better stability when firing from the ground," Giovanni pulled out the rifle's bipod and then placed it back beneath the rifle's barrel.

"(It can be fired when prone on the ground?)" Lucario continued to ponder and listen enthusiastically.

"Finally, we have the shoulder strap," Giovanni made sure that the strap was properly placed on his shoulder before letting go of the rifle and having it dangle freely to his side. "It allows for better ease of holding the rifle, especially since most rifles have a considerable weight to them."

Giovanni re-gripped the rifle and then had his finger on a switch that was to the side of the rifle, directly above the trigger.

"This switch right here that I've got my finger on…" Giovanni flipped the switch three times. "…That's the safety switch, which prevents accidental fire when you don't intend to use the gun, as well as not allowing the gun to fire as long as the switch is on."

Giovanni now pointed the rifle towards the ceiling of the room. He demonstrated how the safety switch prevented fire by pulling the trigger a few times, and having no response whatsoever.

"(You can simply flip a switch on the rifle and not have it fire at all?)" Lucario pondered.

Giovanni now pulled on a tab that was nearby the switch and removed the ammunition from the rifle itself. He held it in front of the gun.

"This is called a magazine. It holds all of the weapon's ammunition. During combat, it's always wise to carry more ammunition with you, so that you can reload when there's no more ammunition within the magazine, swap for a fresh magazine, reload, and fire once more."

Giovanni then extracted one of the bullets within the magazine and held it out in front of Lucario. The Aura Pokémon retrieved it and examined it thoroughly, albeit only with his eyes and paws, so as to know how it looked like and felt like.

"_Is this the 'ammunition' that you referenced?_" Lucario inquired.

"Yes. It's simply known as a bullet." Giovanni began to explain the ammunition in significantly more detail as Lucario examined the bullet given to him. "The aerodynamic tip of the bullet is the only part of the whole structure that is fired."

Lucario noticed the dense metallic tip of the bullet that he held in his paws.

"The rest of the cartridge holds explosive gunpowder, which allows the bullet to be fired from the rifle at speeds that easily exceed multiple times the speed of sound in certain weapons." Giovanni continued.

"(Multiple times the speed of sound, huh…)" Lucario didn't believe that part until he saw it for himself just how fast the bullets are capable of traveling.

"The circle on the very backside of the bullet cartridge is what is stricken with by a sharp point within the rifle and all guns to allow the bullet to fire. Some guns are capable of firing bullets at a rate of a few thousand per minute, as long as jamming is disregarded." Giovanni concluded the explanation of the bullet.

"(A few thousand per minute, huh…)" Once again, Lucario was doubtful about any gun firing at such a high rate.

As he examined the bullet after Giovanni stopped speaking, Lucario recalled what Giovanni said about a "sharp point within the rifle" that allows the bullet to be fired and knew that he had a couple of those "sharp points" that allows a bullet to be fired.

They were the spikes that he had on his body.

Lucario eyed his left paw-spike, getting some ideas on how pressing the bullet's rear end on the sharp tip of his paw-spike (or chest-spike) would have the bullet fire.

Giovanni noticed Lucario paying considerable attention to his left paw-spike. "(It better not get any rebellious ideas from that bullet that I lent it,)" Giovanni thought with a serious countenance.

The Grunts with guns were already clutching their weapons with a firmer grip, in case Lucario decided to _use_ the bullet with the intent to kill or escape. The Grunt that _didn't_ have his rifle on him had his hand on his back-up pistol, in case it was needed.

"(…No, I won't need it.)" Lucario thought. "(What can I possibly accomplish with weaponry that I had virtually no experience with? I'd be dead upon the mere _attempt_ of using it, and I can't afford to die anytime soon. I still need to maintain Team Liberator and rescue more Pokémon alongside Aqua, Terra, and Wanderer.)" Lucario looked at the Team Rocket members before him, not once paying attention to their body language. "(For now, I should just capsule my emotions, stay ubiquitously stable, and play along in Giovanni's game as one of his pawns, until the time is right for a rebellion.)"

Lucario held the bullet in front of Giovanni and kept it there for him to retrieve back.

"_This belongs to you, Giovanni._" Lucario said politely.

Giovanni's countenance weakened and he now was dubious about Lucario's unexpected choice of action. He _truly_ believed that Lucario would attempt to escape, however he realized that it would only mean death for the Aura Pokémon, something which _neither_ of them wanted.

Lucario was growing mildly impatient and repeated himself with a slightly more serious facial expression. "_Well, don't you want it back?_"

Giovanni simply re-clicked the magazine into the rifle and said "Keep it."

Lucario, after hearing those words, simply tucked the bullet within the fur of the side of his thighs as if they were side pockets. "_If you say so,_" Lucario said nonchalantly.

Giovanni gave the borrowed rifle back to its rightful owner, whom was discreetly happy to receive it back. He then decided to walk ahead this time, and everyone else followed, including Lucario, out of his own free will.

"(How long will I last in Team Rocket before I can eventually leave?)" Lucario thought privately when walking out of the room, sandwiched between Giovanni in front of him and the four Grunts with guns behind him, whom kept their eyes firmly locked onto the Aura Pokémon.

One of the Grunts closed the door behind him once everyone was outside of the room. They now proceeded forward, with Giovanni leading the way.

Along the way, Lucario passed by a nearby clock hanging onto the wall. He ogled it briefly, noticing that it was precisely 12:00 PM—noon. The clock also had an LCD screen that displayed today's date in the form of numbers and slashes: 10/10/10—October 10th, 2010. However, since he has never seen a clock before in his life, he had no idea what time it was exactly, or what a clock is used for, or what a clock _is_ in general.

Giovanni had everyone take the elevator—once again something completely alien to Lucario—because the floor that he needed to take Lucario to is _thirty-four floors_ higher up than the current floor: Floor B4.

In other words, it's Floor 30, or the _roof_ floor: the Registration Room.

* * *

><p><em><span>8.2: Now Registering Into Team Rocket<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 30/Roof Floor): Registration Room 

Date: October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10)

Time: 12:06 PM (Six Past Noon)

_**Ding!**_

The elevator doors opened upon arriving to the Roof Floor of Team Rocket Main Headquarters: the Registration Room. Giovanni could be seen, pinching the roof of his nose and having his head tilted down in some shame.

Why was Giovanni like this?

Apparently, Lucario was so startled by the sudden movement of the elevator, as well as the claustrophobia-inducing closed space of it, that he jumped up to the ceiling, and just like a Treecko, stuck fast to the ceiling.

Somehow, Lucario held on tightly to the ceiling, despite his chest-spike being the only thing that was actually considered to be keeping him inverted. He was traumatized temporarily, his body rattling temporarily, and briefly robbed of logical thought.

As for the other four Grunts with guns, they were all tugging on Lucario's tail in an effort to yank him down from the ceiling, not seeming to care if Lucario was terrified or not.

"…" Lucario was shaking so much that he was doing three things at the moment: he was causing the ceiling to rattle in synchronization with his being, his teeth were chattering uncontrollably, and he had completely disregarded the fact that the Grunts were pulling on his tail.

"(Why didn't I choose to take the stairs instead…)" Giovanni thought, regretting the decision of having everyone reach this room through the elevator. "(I should've seen this coming from a Pokémon who's spent its entire life in a forest.)"

The four Grunts with guns eventually managed to pull Lucario's tail enough to have him come down from the elevator ceiling, only to have him curl up on the floor in the fetal position. Every single part of Lucario was curled up onto his body, including his stiff tail, with its tip now wedged between his ankles.

Giovanni now looked at Lucario's condition and decided to do something about it. "Just give it some time to recover its sanity." Giovanni simply said, and everyone else followed his orders. "I don't blame it for acting this way after being in an elevator for the first time in its life. It's probably temporarily stunned and just needs a few minutes to regain its normal composure."

Lucario was still in the fetal position, albeit was beginning to overall uncurl somewhat, like a morning Sunflora. He was also stopping himself from uncontrollably chattering his teeth by using his left paw-spike as a mouth-guard, a sign that he was aware of his current condition and calming down gradually.

* * *

><p><em>5 minutes later…<em>

Time: 12:11 PM (Eleven Past Noon)

"Lucario, how do you feel?" Giovanni asked sincerely to Lucario.

Lucario was now on his two furry feet, albeit feebly and still shaken from earlier. "_To be honest, a little ashamed of myself,_" Lucario said honestly, briefly rubbing the back of his neck with his left paw in embarrassment. "_I've seemed to overreact earlier now that I look back in retrospect._"

Giovanni noticed how Lucario's legs were still shaking abnormally and said with concern "Are you able to walk?"

Lucario took a few steps forward and exited the elevator, feeling all-around much better now. The four Grunts with guns remained in the elevator and decided to leave, because between those five minutes, Giovanni gave them the order to leave. They pressed the button on the elevator and immediately, the doors closed.

The elevator can be heard going down, with mechanical humming fading away along with its descent. Lucario was the last to hear of it—due to his sensitive sense of hearing—before it faded away from his location.

"Come with me," Giovanni said before walking forward.

Lucario simply followed him, concealing his spite with aplomb—when normally, his emotions overwhelm him—, unsure of what Giovanni has planned for him.

Beyond the elevator, a long hallway could be seen, which was what both Giovanni and Lucario were walking through. The hallway was painted black, with bright white lights alongside the ceiling's corners, each one separated by about five feet of space, so as to maximize lighting with minimal energy utilized.

Lucario saw very little interest within the hallway, despite the doors that seldom existed to his sides, as well as the staircase next to the elevator.

They both eventually reached the end of the hallway, where an unusually luxurious door awaited them both in front. The door was made of the wood of rare trees, and the doorknob was solid gold.

Not surprisingly, Lucario didn't care much about the fancy door and instead looked back at the elevator door, noticing how far back it was now. Resisting the urge to leave and attempt an escape, he just looked back at the ostentatious door as Giovanni was about to open it with a key that he had on him.

Just like the door, Lucario didn't notice the door key in Giovanni's hand either, with was also solid gold, and it had an orange letter "G"—for "Giovanni"—for teeth, as well as a big red "R"—for "Rocket"—on the handle.

In no time, Giovanni unlocked the door. He put the key away in his fancy orange suit and opened the door. Both Lucario and Giovanni stepped inside in tandem and immediately, Lucario was wide-eyed with astonishment at how interesting Giovanni's room was.

"Welcome to the highest floor of Team Rocket Main Headquarters." Giovanni stated to Lucario. "This is Floor 30, the Registration Room, where I run Team Rocket, as well as file out forms for new Rocket recruits and captured Pokémon. This is also my room, where I live and sleep in."

Lucario, after listening to Giovanni's explanation of this particular room, was now observing the room to the best of his ability, especially since the Registration Room was full of technology that Lucario had no clue of.

To the front of him, immediately upon entering the room, he could see a massive, hemisphere-shaped table that almost touched both sides of the room. There was a plump and luxurious chair within the table—which he assumed was Giovanni's—, and about eight affordable chairs across the outer area of the table—for anyone who had an appointment with him. The surface of the table within arm's reach of Giovanni had an advanced technological interface that was entirely touch-operated, allowing Giovanni to perform numerous tasks on it. The rest of the table had numerous compartments that stored various items within them.

To Lucario's left was a bizarre sight. Besides more technology and a door leading to some other area of Giovanni's/Registration Room, there was a pet bed on the floor, with a Pokémon sleeping on top of it. The Pokémon sleeping on top of it was a Persian—which should already be known that it belongs to Giovanni as his pet—, and it appeared to be in a deep sleep. Next to it, were two pet bowls, for food and water, both of them manufactured from platinum and surrounded by lustrous diamonds and adamant pearls.

"(What's with the Persian?)" Lucario thought, questioning the reason for it being here, and already knowing what kind of Pokémon it was.

Still feeling curious, Lucario averted his eyes to the right side of the room, where there was another door leading off to some part of this floor. Disregarding that, there was an oversized machine that had a _massive_ cylindrical tube—large enough to contain a Steelix—to its side. The tube was surrounded by twelve-inch-thick metal and eight-inch-thick glass, both intended for maximum protection against any intended escape of any Pokémon within it.

The machine was similar to the teleportation machines within the basement floors, only it was larger, had more surveillance screens for keeping an eye on _all_ of the Pokémon within the holding cells of the basement floors, and even had a special machine next to it that had slots for up to fifty Poké Balls.

What that machine was used for however, was unknown to Lucario.

"Please, feel free to sit down on one of those chairs nearby the table," Giovanni pointed to the one of the hi-tech table's chairs. "I'll be taking care of a few errands before attending to you. Can you wait for me to finish?"

Lucario stepped towards the chair, pulled it back with one arm firmly placed on it, and then sat down comfortably, not needing to adjust his stiff tail _at all_ on the seat, especially since there was no cushion on the lower half of the chair. He rested his head on his left paw and his left elbow on the corner of the table. "_I suppose so…_" he said in a monotone telepathic voice.

"Alright then," Giovanni concluded before walking over to the massive machine.

Lucario observed closely and discreetly at what Giovanni was doing on the machine.

Giovanni observed the surveillance camera and noted the Pokémon that have been newly placed within the holding cells. He pinpointed their holding cells with the machine's computer and marked them for what he planned to do next.

Lucario noticed that one of the television screens on the machine had the holding cells of Aqua, Terra, and Wanderer—who was _still_ unconscious—pictured on it.

"(What is he doing?)" Lucario thought, curious and anxious as to what Giovanni was about to do.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor B4): Basement Cells<span>

Date: October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10)

Time: 12:17 PM (17 Past Noon)

"For the last time Terra, I forgive you! Now can you just let it go already? You're beginning to piss me off!" Aqua was about to slam its head repeatedly on the glass window from sheer frustration and annoyance.

"Alright, alright…" Terra said softly.

Aqua was breathing heavily to itself after having to endure dozens of _repeated_ apologies of Terra helping Team Rocket in capturing it. Its eyes were opened wide and blood-shot with emotional irritation. Aqua was close to having its composure snap and swore that if it heard Terra apologize once more, it would paint the glass red with blood from its head as it pummeled the glass with it.

To Aqua's misfortune, after five seconds of silence, Terra brought up the straw that broke the Camerupt's back.

"Seriously though, if I had met any Pokémon that I helped Team Rocket capture, I'd apologize—"

Aqua _immediately_ shouted at the top of its lungs and _already_ began to slam the glass bulwark _mercilessly_ with its head once it heard Terra apologize to it…yet again…

_**BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH!**_

Already, Aqua had opened the skin on its head and was now making its own red dartboard on the glass, and unknowingly bulls-eyeing the sanguine dartboard with every hemorrhaging hit of fueled stress.

_**BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH!**_

"…" Terra paused for two seconds after physically hearing Aqua's emotional meltdown, and then resumed. "I'd apologize to whomsoever I helped them capture and if possible, I'd repay them to the best of my ability."

_**BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! ZAP!**_

After hearing a sound unlike the previous twenty bashes and then silence, Terra wondered what just happened. It knew that it wasn't a zap intended to stun, because then the next sound audible would be Aqua falling to the floor rather loudly.

Thankfully, due to twenty years of Team Rocket experience, it knew that Aqua was only _teleported_ away, likely to be classified as a newly captured Pokémon for Team Rocket's records.

"(Now what do I do?)" Terra thought to itself, knowing that it was alone within Floor B4—if Wanderer was disregarded due to being unconscious.

Terra looked at its arms in boredom and paid particularly close attention to its shark-like pectoral fins. It then looked to its back at the shark-like dorsal fin that it had, and came up with an idea.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 30Roof Floor): Registration Room 

Date: October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10)

Time: 12:20 PM (20 Past Noon)

Lucario noticed that Aqua had disappeared in a flash of light from its holding cell—already well aware of Aqua's current action. In an instant, another bright flash of light quickly appeared within the machine that Giovanni was currently using, and then disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Lucario's eyes weren't light-stained enough to prevent him from seeing Aqua bashing its head against the glass upon teleporting.

_**BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH! BASH!**_

Aqua continued to bash its head, despite suffering enough head trauma to cause concussions, memory loss, as well as unconsciousness in human beings. It should find itself thankful that its skull is much harder and thicker than that of a human's.

"NO—"

_**BASH!**_

"MORE—"

_**BASH!**_

"AP—"

_**BASH!**_

"OL—"

_**BASH!**_

"O—"

_**BASH!**_

"GI—"

_**BASH!**_

"**ZING!**"

_**BASH! BASH! BASH!**_

Lucario wasn't sure where to _begin_ to think, after seeing Aqua's bizarre action. It never sensed _this_ characteristic emanating from its aura.

Giovanni looked at the _head_strong Lapras and raised an eyebrow after seeing Aqua's continuous head bashings and blood hemorrhaging the glass. Giovanni then looked at Lucario, and inquired "You speak their language, so do you know what's going on with this Lapras?"

Lucario merely said this in order to prevent further questioning: "_It's only a temper tantrum. If I were you, I'd do something _humane_ to prevent further injury._"

Giovanni looked back at Aqua and muttered "Good point" before rushing over to the machine, retrieving the _very_ same Poké Ball that was utilized in Aqua's capture and placing it in a slot on the steel cylinder. With a few commands through the computer, Aqua disappeared once more in an omni-present bright light and Lucario now began to question Aqua's current Location. Thankfully, once he noticed Giovanni retrieve the Poké Ball that was placed there a few moments ago, he knew that Aqua was within it.

Besides that, Lucario also noticed the type of Poké Ball that it was. It wasn't a basic red and white Poké Ball—like the ones he had seen used frequently before in his forest home, or the blue and white Poké Ball with a red band on top—the Great Ball—that was used against Wanderer. It was a completely new type of Poké Ball model, one specifically designed to capture aquatic Pokémon.

Unknown to Lucario, it was a Net Ball.

"(*Sigh*) (At least you won't self-inflict injury anymore, Aqua.)" Lucario thought to itself, not liking the fact that Aqua was imprisoned in the same types of capsules that he and Wanderer were captured with. "(I just can't ponder why you pummeled yourself over an apology…)"

Giovanni placed Aqua's Net Ball back in its original place and then went to the computer's keyboard once more. He initiated a healing program—just like those at Pokémon Centers—that quickly caused the area where the Net Ball stood to emanate green light. Aqua's Net Ball was immediately encircled by that green light and began to heal Aqua.

Lucario was curious at what the purpose of the green light was. "_What purpose does that green light serve?_" Lucario inquired Giovanni.

Giovanni already retrieved another Poké Ball from the same location where Aqua's Net Ball was, and just like it, it was a different model. What model it was however, as well as which Pokémon it was used on, Lucario couldn't tell just yet.

"The green light is a healing energy that this hi-tech machine generates." Giovanni explained while keeping his eyes locked on his current actions. He placed the unknown Poké Ball on the same slot where Aqua's Net Ball once was. "It encircles the Poké Ball exposed to it and heals the Pokémon within it in a matter of minutes."

"_I see…_" Lucario let Giovanni know that he understood what was explained.

Giovanni didn't care otherwise and initiated a computer program that had a few stalwart water hoses spray at the inside glass bulwark and rinse Aqua's residing blood away. The sanguine water drained away within drains implanted within the cylinder.

Lucario took this opportunity to observe the Poké Ball model on the slot beside the metallic cylinder before Giovanni obstructed his view. In no time flat, he noticed that it appeared to be blue, with yellow arrows forming an "X" shape that has the button on the center.

Once again, without knowing what model Poké Ball it is, it's a Quick Ball.

"(So _those_ capsules are Poké Balls…)" Lucario thought, moments before Giovanni walked back towards the computer's keyboard.

"(One new Pokémon down, two more to go…)" Giovanni thought with a serious countenance. He inputted the holding cell number of a specific Pokémon within Floor B4 and waited.

Lucario looked at the television screen and noticed that Terra's holding cell had flashed the same white light that was utilized to teleport Aqua to this precise location. Once the light dimmed in Terra's holding cell, another flash of light burst within the metallic cylinder.

Once the light dimmed, Terra could be seen crystal clearly through the glass…and upside down?

"(…I can do this…)" Terra thought while attempting to handstand on the points of its pectoral fins to the sides of its arms. Its arms wobbled considerably due to the fact that they normally _don't_ support Terra's weight—which is approximately 209.4 lbs if you recall—, albeit the arm resonation didn't bother the Mach Pokémon in the least.

Eventually, after a few close attempts, Terra managed to suffice enough balance to remain inverted and vertical. Now, Terra attempted to remain in this position for as long as it was physically—and willfully—able to.

"(…Just…ignore the pain…)" Terra gritted its shark-like teeth.

Lucario simply had his eyes half-open in the midst of seeing Terra's handstand. "(Not impressive… I can do handstands with one paw-spike,)" Lucario thought before looking up at the ceiling with relaxed eyes, as if trailing off in thought. "(Of course, I can also hang fully horizontal from a tree branch with one arm and appear to defy gravity…)"

Terra never bothered to pay more attention to the fact that it'd been teleported to Giovanni's machine, especially since it was accustomed to this procedure.

Giovanni stepped back to the computer's keyboard and simply typed in more commands. In only seconds, the machine whirred up with charged energy and Terra was teleported away once more, only into its Quick Ball this time. Seeing as to how Terra didn't require a healing session, Giovanni simply placed Terra's Quick Ball next to Aqua's Net Ball, and then inputted the holding cell number for Wanderer's holding cell.

"(Two new recruits down, one last Pokémon to go…)" Giovanni thought before inputting the final bits of the command.

Lucario now eyed Wanderer's holding cell through the television screen, moments before another flash of light teleported the mountain-dwelling Aura Pokémon to Giovanni's machine. Upon seeing how Wanderer remained in the _exact_ same posture and condition that he saw earlier, before losing his right paw-spike to the four Team Rocket Grunts with guns, Lucario clenched his right fist for only a few seconds before relaxing his right paw.

"(No… Not again… I can't afford to lose my temper again!)" Lucario concentrated on keeping his emotions stable, and found it mildly challenging, yet accomplishable.

Giovanni looked at Wanderer—not knowing that the Lucario he was viewing had a nickname—with a sense of concern. "(Why do some Pokémon attempt to struggle?)"

The Team Rocket boss retrieved Wanderer's Great Ball from the table of Poké Balls and placed it on the slot besides the cylindrical machine.

"(Don't they know of the consequences?)" Giovanni quickly imputed the command to teleport and Wanderer teleported shortly after into its Great Ball. Then, he retrieved Wanderer's Great Ball and moved Aqua's Net Ball to another slot—feeling that Aqua has fully healed—and placed the Great Ball on the opened healing slot, deciding to leave Wanderer there for more time than intended to. Giovanni then placed Aqua's Net Ball on another open slot and thought "(I hope that light-furred Lucario has learned its lesson, or else risk death…)" before facing Lucario.

Successfully setting anger aside and after seeing Giovanni's action of facing him, Lucario stood up from his chair and had this to say.

"_I assume that you've accomplished your intended tasks?_" Lucario assumed with crossed arms.

Giovanni nodded before about-facing back to the monitor and technologically commanding the glass bulwark to open. "I need you to step inside this machine," he said before turning back to face Lucario. "This'll scan you and obtain data from your being. With it, I'll be able to obtain and record information regarding your age, move set, and power."

"_What is the purpose of this…machine?_" Lucario questioned why it needed to analyze himself.

"I don't plan on you to be the average, run-of-the-mill Pokémon." Giovanni walked over to the front of the opened glass bulwark. "No… You're much more powerful and valuable. I could tell before I captured you." Giovanni held out his hand near the glass bulwark and wanted Lucario to enter inside.

Lucario continued to listen and obediently walked over to the glass bulwark. He stopped inches before entering it to observe the inside of it in more detail. Finally, he walked inside of it and faced forward.

"I see a better outcome and use for you," Giovanni said before walking back to the machine's keyboard. He began to activate and run the scanning program.

"_What do you mean by that?_" Lucario said curiously, albeit _not_ without some anger, since he had a deep feeling that he was just another one of Giovanni's tools.

After saying that, the glass bulwark closed slowly. Next, the scanning program began, and infrared rings of light began to bounce up and down, constantly enveloping and passing by the Aura Pokémon within the machine's metallic cylinder.

"After seeing your performance back at Celadon Forest, I see that you would deserve more. You have _far_ more power than your average species possesses." Giovanni said and then stepped forward of the metallic cylinder, with arms crossed behind his back. "I want you to become an official member of Team Rocket. You'd be the _second_ Pokémon in Team Rocket history to join our official ranks."

Lucario pondered his options if he was a member of Team Rocket, discarding anger to think logically about this promotion. "(I could use this coincidental opportunity sagaciously. I'll be able to learn about this organization, this building, and how everything about Team Rocket functions the way it does. I may even see their history and learn about topics that never occurred to me. I'll be able to support Team Liberator by providing stalwart service, and may recruit some new members along the way.)" Lucario was looking at the ceiling while deep in thought.

"(What could you be thinking about?)" Giovanni thought, seeing Lucario stare at the ceiling in a mental trance. Setting that topic aside, he continued speaking. "If you plan your future accordingly and surpass basic expectations, you may surpass the Grunt status and become an Admin. The way I see it, you may receive that promotion in only a few months."

"_You're giving me this opportunity to become a member of Team Rocket, simply because I possess more power than first observations expose?_" Lucario looked at Giovanni and assumed this, having to close his eyes every time the infrared scanning ring travels upward.

"That's the primary reason." Giovanni told the Aura Pokémon. "Your power easily rivals that of most Legendary Pokémon."

"_I see…_" Lucario thought while raising both of his paws. He had them briefly emanate a considerable amount of aura, a field of aura twelve inches in distance from his paws, and it was then that Lucario found out that he truly did possess more power than meets the eye. He found channeling more power than a normal Lucario could was considerably easy on him. "_Is there any other reason?_"

Giovanni ogled the television screen briefly as information on Lucario appeared on most of its monitors. One of the screens in particular listed _dozens_ of different moves, _all_ of which Lucario could utilize at any given time. "As a matter of fact, there is." Giovanni looked back at the Aura Pokémon. "Pokémon are only able to learn four moves at any one time, albeit you've not only _broken_ that limit, but are also able to learn moves _outside_ of your species, as well as recall them all instantly."

Lucario simplified Giovanni's words within his head. "_So, what you're saying is that I've broken the four-move limit, I'm able to learn virtually _any_ technique, as well as never _forget_ any known move?_"

"Exactly," Giovanni stated.

"(This explains a lot actually…)" Lucario thought.

"It's not just your move set that's incredible," Giovanni continued. "Your Pokémon ability _itself_ is different than the average Lucario."

Lucario never knew this about himself and said "_Go on_" in curiosity.

"Just like your move set, you can learn new abilities through battle experience, I assume," Giovanni assumed. "Not only that, you possess an entirely _new_ Pokémon ability that isn't known to any other Pokémon."

"_What is that ability?_" Lucario asked.

"You are able to learn every possible move without forgetting it, as well as any Pokémon ability. Alongside that, you are even able to break any Pokémon's move set limit and allow them to learn more than four moves, albeit only moves that they are capable of learning."

"_Is there a name to it?_" Lucario said. "_If there isn't, I feel as though I should name my Pokémon ability myself._"

"But of course," Giovanni said before walking to the keyboard once more. "What name did you have in mind?"

"_Inheritance,_" Lucario said, already giving enough thought to his choice.

Giovanni inputted the new Pokémon ability to the computer and named it as such. "There, it's done," Giovanni said. "I'll release you now from the machine."

Giovanni inputted the technological order to open the glass bulwark and after it slowly opened, Lucario willingly stepped outside of it. Upon doing so, Giovanni had the glass bulwark close technologically. Once the door closed, a door within Lucario's mind opened. This door had a question inside that Lucario had unlocked to access, and wanted to trade it for an answer.

"_If I recall, I remember you saying that I'd be 'the _second_ Pokémon in Team Rocket history to join our official ranks',_" Lucario quoted Giovanni's past words.

"True…" Giovanni said, facing Lucario once done with the computer's keyboard.

"_Who's _that_ Pokémon? Who's the first Pokémon to join Team Rocket as a member?_" Lucario said.

"It's a Pokémon that was created biologically by mankind, under my orders in fact." Giovanni began to explain.

"(Created by…humans?)" Lucario was already in disbelief, having underestimated humanity.

"Approximately a week ago, I retrieved the man-made Pokémon from a distant sea-base laboratory that developed it," Giovanni freshly recalled the memories that he had of that day. "The Pokémon possessed enough power to reduce the _entire_ laboratory into a scrap metal conflagration heap afloat the sea…as well as _slaughter_ all of the scientists within it."

"(Holy crap…)" Lucario attempted to picture Giovanni's words, but found it difficult to do so since he had no clue what a "sea-base" or a "laboratory" was. He simply pictured "slaughter", recalled some of his experiences _relating_ to that word, and showed astonishment.

"I traveled to the ruined laboratory and introduced myself to it, saying that I can help it by concentrating…" Giovanni held his hands closer to his face and clenched them tightly as he said this next part. "…its raw, unadulterated brutality."

"_What's the difference in power between it and me?_" Lucario curiously asked.

Giovanni brought his hands down and unclenched them before responding. "In my point of view, both your power and its power are only off by miniscule amounts. The only _decisive_ difference between you both is that it's far more pugnacious and hostile in battle."

"_I see…_"

"Since you both are the only Pokémon amongst our ranks, I'll see to it that you both reside in the same room together." Giovanni turned back to the computer and searched for an open room. The results revealed an open room for two on Floor 29, _directly_ one floor below Giovanni's Room, Floor 30. "Is that alright with you?"

"(How coincidental for me…)" Lucario resisted the urge to smirk smugly and said "_That's perfectly alright with me,_" in a camouflaged tone.

"Before you go, I need to do a few last tasks with you." Giovanni walked over to the Poké Balls and optically examined Wanderer's Great Ball, noticing that enough time was given for its recovery. He turned off the healing machine and then walked over to the right of the machine, where his closet was. Once at the closet, Giovanni opened it and searched through it to find a specific item.

Lucario's eyes leveled between opened and closed when he noticed the only external clothing within Giovanni's closet were orange suits.

"(Oy…)" Lucario sighed mentally.

Giovanni eventually found the item that he was looking for. After retrieving it, and temporarily hiding it from Lucario's field of vision, he closed the closet door and exposed the item for Lucario to see.

The item was an Expert Belt: a Pokémon hold item that improves the power of super-effective attacks by 20%.

"_What is that?_" Lucario asked with a reluctant sigh in his telepathic tone.

"It's one of many Pokémon hold items that strengthen your attacks in combat," Giovanni began before tossing the item to Lucario, whom caught it with ease. "This hold item is an Expert Belt."

Lucario stretched the Expert Belt with both paws and moderate strength, finding its material to be somewhat resilient and significantly elastic. "_What purpose could this Expert Belt possibly serve?_" Lucario stared uninterestedly at the unusual belt as he continued to pull and relax the belt with his strength.

"In battle, it increases the power of super-effective Pokémon techniques." Giovanni responded.

"(Allegedly…)" Lucario thought cynically before stopping from "playing" with the Expert Belt. He strapped the hold item _not_ around his waist, but across his torso, as if it were a sash. The Expert Belt hung only mildly loose from Lucario's torso, and the fabric of it resided below his chest-spike.

"I'll change topics now," Giovanni proceeded away from his closet and towards the Poké Balls. He stopped at the right side of the machine before facing Lucario. "Because I'm admitting you to Team Rocket as a Grunt, I intend for you to have equal privileges just like the human Grunts in this organization."

"_Such as…?_"

"Since each Team Rocket Grunt is only allowed to have three Pokémon at the most on their being," Giovanni continued. "I've taken the liberty of _granting_ you three Pokémon to utilize on your assigned missions."

Lucario was almost dumbfounded after Giovanni said that. His eyes widened and then he said "_Are you pulling my chest-spike?_" because he was currently dubious.

"No, I'm speaking seriously," Giovanni reassured him. "To add to your benefit, I'll allow you to choose _any_ three Pokémon that are present at this machine right here," Giovanni pointed at three random Poké Balls without looking at them. "I'm being generous, because every Grunt before you has always had to choose Pokémon at their base form, or Pokémon that don't evolve at all. Also, I figured that you'd befriend a Pokémon or two in Team Rocket, so this may help you."

"(In more ways than one…)" Lucario thought discreetly, knowing that this further spreads his luck by allowing him to befriend more Pokémon sooner, as well as recruit them to Team Liberator.

Lucario walked to the machine where the Poké balls were displayed like trophies, and scanned each and every one in detail. He noticed that the LCD monitor, directly in front of him, displayed the Pokémon within the Poké Balls, therefore giving him more ease of reference.

Despite this however, Lucario took his time with which Pokémon to choose from.

Giovanni, once a minute went by, felt as if Lucario was consuming more time than normally expected and had this to say.

"You didn't expect this from me, did you?" He said smugly.

"_I would've if I had my Aura Vision ability on,_" Lucario spoke telepathically, but continued to have his eyes locked onto the assorted capsules.

He continued to scan the Poké Balls for a few more seconds before making his decision.

"_The only three Pokémon that I've currently seen within this organization is Lapras, Garchomp, and that light-furred Lucario,_" Lucario faced Giovanni before speaking telepathically.

"You mean the one that you were with back at the forest?" Giovanni said without a care to Lucario's emotions.

Lucario vindictively clamped down on his teeth after hearing that, in an attempt to stifle his anger. "_Yes…_" He said faintly, and then abated his vice-like jaws.

"I'm assuming it was a close friend of yours, which is why you sucker punched me on my cheek and chipped a few of my molars," Giovanni had no signs of anger within his voice.

"_Yeah…sorry about that,_" Lucario faked an apology. He scratched the back of his neck with his left paw and actually _sounded_ sorry.

"It's the least of my concerns now," Giovanni said.

Lucario shrugged his shoulders understandably and proceeded. "_Anyway… I feel as though my chosen three Pokémon should be Lapras, Garchomp, and that light-furred Lucario…or as they are known by: Aqua, Terra, and Wanderer._" Lucario thought of Team Liberator briefly after speaking.

"Wanderer…?" Giovanni was confused by the name choice. "Where'd it get the name from?"

"_It was always a Pokémon that loved roaming the land and the freedom to do so._" Lucario explained. "_That's how it received its nickname._"

Giovanni nodded slowly before facing the three Poké Balls—Aqua's Net Ball, Terra's Quick Ball, and Wanderer's Great Ball—that housed Lucario's desired Pokémon. "Hmm…" Giovanni could've sworn that there was some reason to Lucario's preferences. "(These _are_ the only three Pokémon that he's seen here…)"

Lucario was beginning to grow nervous when Giovanni took his time in thinking why he wanted these three Pokémon in particular.

Eventually, Giovanni retrieved the three Poké Balls that Lucario desired, pressed the buttons on them in tandem to have them shrink, and then held them in front of the Aura Pokémon. "From now on, these three Pokémon are yours to use at your expense," Giovanni said truthfully.

Lucario looked at Giovanni's hand and noticed how the Poké Balls shrunk from baseball size to ping-pong size. He retrieved them all with his left paw in one go and held them in the center of his palm, thinking "(How can Pokémon fit inside of these? It's not _physically_ possible for us to.)"

Lucario stopped thinking long enough about this unusual phenomenon. He had his paw close up as if it were a flower at night, gently cradling his fellow Team Liberator members on the fur and pads of his paws. Lucario then looked at Giovanni and said "_Thank you,_" reluctantly, but without feign or strain in his telepathic voice.

"Your welcome," Giovanni replied before moving back to the computer's keyboard. He printed out the statistics that he received when analyzing Lucario and gave them to him in the form of a few sheets of paper. "Since you were so cooperative when I had this computer analyze you, I feel as though it would be beneficial if you keep a copy of your information."

Lucario looked at the paper and said "_Alright,_" before taking them with his right paw.

"Since you already speak English fluently, I can assume that you can read English too, right?"

Lucario looked at the papers and scanned through them, just to make sure he understood what was written on them. "_Somehow, I _can_ read._" Lucario said, unsure of how he knew how to read when he never learned how to, but didn't care much about that nevertheless.

"Good." Giovanni said before walking towards his chair on the hi-tech table he had.

Lucario stood where he did and just followed him with his eyes.

"Now for the final item to discuss with you," Giovanni sat down on his chair and placed his elbows on the table. He intertwined his hands and rested his chin on top of them. "Since I captured you, you're going to need a nickname."

"(Oh shit…)" Lucario didn't want one and thought so in spite.

"Now, due to your mysterious and frankly _unknown_ capabilities, I've already thought of the perfect nickname for you."

"(*Sigh*)" Lucario wished that he could rend off his two pointed ears at the moment.

"From this moment on, I hereby name you…"

Lucario averted his _ears_ by pointing them backwards, away from Giovanni.

"…Xeno."

Lucario's ears were facing forward once again after he heard Giovanni name him. "(That's…alright with me…)" Lucario admitted, much to his surprise.

"You're free to go to your new room now," Giovanni said. "It's only one floor down, on Floor 29. Look for a door with the numbers "29-6" on it."

Giovanni reached into his outside suit pocket and retrieved a key from it. That key had the numbers "29-6" on it, which meant it was the room's respective key.

"You'll need this key to enter."

He threw the key towards Lucario, and despite not using either of his paws—since they were each respectively carrying Poké Balls and statistics papers—still caught it. Lucario simply use PSYCHIC to have the key hover over his shoulder. He looked at the key and noticed the "29-6" written on it, and then didn't pay much attention to it afterward.

"I hope you enjoy your career in Team Rocket." Giovanni said.

Lucario walked towards the Registration Room's entrance door and used PSYCHIC to open the door. The golden doorknob responded to his influence before turning and opening the door wide. "_I'll try to,_" Lucario said honestly without looking back, before proceeding out of the door and closing it behind him with PSYCHIC.

Giovanni could hear a few stifled footsteps from the Aura Pokémon—since Lucario walks with bare feet—and then after a minute, the sounds of an elevator.

Once there was no longer a trace of the Aura Pokémon within the vicinity, Giovanni grinned sinisterly and thought "(it suspects nothing…)".

He then used the touch-screen interface of his table and had the document of Lucario's information exposed, in _considerably_ more detail. The document showed a revolving image of Lucario, a moving structure of its DNA, as well as graphs and information on its power.

"(This information is invaluable!)" Giovanni stared at the complex information with the same interest as if staring at a goldmine. "(It's equally valuable as the man-made Pokémon that I brought back with me. And both of their information…)"

Giovanni opened up another document, and this one had blueprints of a powerful _machine_ instead of a different Pokémon.

"(…are pieces of something greater.)"

Giovanni's Persian, the one that was sleeping earlier, made its way over to Giovanni's left side. Giovanni noticed it, smirked, and began stroking the fur on its head.

"(*Purr*) (*Purr*)" Giovanni's Persian purred lightly while Giovanni's hand was on its head.

"(My plan… In time, it'll commence.)" Giovanni thought to himself. "(Both Mewtwo, and Xeno…they're the seeds to my plan. All they need is time to grow, and then I'll harvest their produce, for _all_ that they're worth, when the time is right.)"

He closed the documents and then turned off the table's touch-screen interface. Under his table, there was a mini-refrigerator, and a few wine glasses beside it. He opened the mini-refrigerator and retrieved two items: a bottle of aged wine from the mini-refrigerator and a wine glass. He poured himself some wine on the glass and then replaced the wine bottle back into the mini-refrigerator. He smiled to himself and drank some of the wine from his glass, all while simultaneously continuing to stroke his Persian across the head.

"The world will soon belong to me, and to Team Rocket."

* * *

><p>"A man who has risked his life knows that careers are worthless, and a man who will not risk his career has a worthless life." —Orson Scott Card (248) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

* * *

><p>For those who've seen the first Pokémon movie, you'll probably guess where Mewtwo falls into this. However, I don't plan to follow every single minute detail that the movie gave us.<p>

For example, the time that Mewtwo spends in Team Rocket is never made clear. It could've been in that organization for a few days, or even a whole year or two. Also, who's to assume that Mewtwo was battling the entire time, or pondering its purpose in life? It could've had a social life in Team Rocket.

...Social life? Yeah right...

Anyway, the main focus of the next few chapters will be Mewtwo's and Xeno's (Lucario's) place in Team Rocket, and what paths they decide to take.

Feel free to review and leave me your opinion on my work and/or progress, although I probably won't be surprised if only one person does so. (Thank you Kalakar for your thoughts.)

...Is it because I'm new here or something, and therefore an enigma to the eyes of my readers? I can only speculate.


	9. Chapter III (3)

Well here it is, my fellow readers. The ninth segment in my "The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads" FanFic. In this chapter, Xeno Lucario is introduced to his room in Team Rocket Main Headquarters, as well as the Genetic Pokémon Mewtwo.

Before you read on, I just wanted to state a few things:

1. I'm up to 861 views at the moment this chapter is uploaded, all thanks to the interest of my readers.

2. I'm beginning to gain some notoriety with this story, and starting to cement myself on this website. I had a review from a different username this time.

3. This is actually my second shortest chapter as of now. It clocked in at only 30 pages and [DBZ refence] OVER 9,000 (words)!

4. Xeno Lucario, alongside Mewtwo, get their own song, just as Eduardo got one in "5. Prologue (Part III (3)): The Unique Boy's Unlocked Potential".

I hope some of you have heard of _System of a Down_.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter III (3): Now Residing in Team Rocket<strong>

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29)

Date: October 10th, 2010 (10/10/10)

Time: 1:02 PM

_**Ding!**_

The arrival of the elevator is audible from the farthest ends of Floor 29's hallway. The elevator doors opened after a few seconds of the elevator arriving onto its intended destination. The doors, strangely enough, opened to reveal _no one_ within the elevator.

However, someone _was_ within the elevator. Lucario arrived into Floor 29 via elevator, but wasn't viewable inside of the elevator upon first glance.

A few objects fell from the elevator's ceiling in tandem and onto the elevator floor. To begin with, a bullet—the same one that Giovanni allowed Lucario to keep when coming out of his temporary holding cell in Floor B4. Next, three minimized Poké Balls fell after the bullet: Aqua's Net Ball, Terra's Quick Ball, and Wanderer's Great Ball. Third, a few sheets of paper floated down and landed beside the Poké Balls and the bullet—the papers listing information on Lucario's being. Finally, a key with the numbers "29-6" landed below, free from Lucario's telekinetic grasp.

What about Lucario?

_**Thud!**_

"(*Groan*)" Lucario fell from the elevator's ceiling after clinging onto it with his chest-spike. He almost fell right on top of his dropped belongings, but missed them by a few inches. Most of the fall's impact was on his back, tail, and head, not surprisingly.

Lucario eventually got back up on his feet in no time and began to retrieve all of his dropped belongings.

"(I suppose I'm not fully accustomed to this elevator yet,)" Lucario thought while first retrieving his three fallen Poké Balls, ensuring that there's no physical damage on them. "(I _still_ jumped and clung fast to the ceiling.)"

Lucario looked up and noticed _two_ puncture holes on the elevator's ceiling, evidence that he was here, and that Grunts should take that into account. He then proceeded with the retrieval of the other three objects.

"(However, I'm not temporarily traumatized like before, so I'm at least _growing_ accustomed to this elevator,)" Lucario retrieved all of his belongings and walked outside of the elevator, seconds before the doors closed on him, and _narrowly_ catching the tip of his tail between them.

Lucario looked at the hallway before him and was already noticing doors with similar numbers on them, compared to the key he had with him. As he walked further down the hallway, he noticed that doors were widely scattered across the hallway, and yet an equidistance apart. He eventually found the door that possessed the same initials as those on his key, "29-6", and knew that this was his room, the one that he'd share with the enigmatic man-made Pokémon that Giovanni mentioned earlier.

Knowing how keys and doors work together after noticing Giovanni open _his_ room's door earlier, Lucario remembered how to unlock doors. He inserted the key's teeth into the doorknob, gave it a clockwise turn, heard the tumblers shift, and successfully unlocked the door. He removed the key and tucked it away inside the excess fur of his thighs—which act adequately as side pockets—, before gripping the doorknob and opening the door.

Immediately, he was blown away by the contents of his new room.

Before him resided many luxuries that he had no clear understanding of. He saw an elegant dining room table, with many luxurious tables to its sides and fancy china on its surface. There were a few mid-size sofas surrounding the television set on one corner of the room. The walls of the room weren't solid walls, but glass windows instead, heavily reinforced and giving a breathtaking view of the world outside. There were also many other miscellaneous items scattered around Lucario's room, decorating it with their presence. A crystal chandelier hung just above the dining table, potted Berry plants surrounded the corners of the room, and a bust of Giovanni even resided on top of the television set—something that Lucario would prefer to repress its existence.

"_Whoa…_" Lucario muttered in an instant after seeing the luxurious quality of the room. He stepped further inside and set all four of the items he had on his being—the three Poké Balls, the "29-6" room key, the solitary bullet, and his statistics papers—on top of the exquisite table closest to him.

For the next thirty minutes, he spent this time getting to know every bit of the furniture around him. He sat down on every chair and sofa, smelled every Berry plant—as well as devouring one of their produce—, eyeballed every technological device—television, phone, light switch, table lamp, etc.—, noticed every eating utensil, and spent the remainder of that time looking at the incredible view of being on Floor 29.

"(Where is this place located?)" Lucario thought when staring down at the immense mountain range—Mt. Moon—below him.

Looking further, he could see _extremely_ minute signs of buildings and human civilization, a challenge for his keen eyesight. Looking perpendicular to his height, he could see that it was early in the afternoon and that the sun had just barely placed itself below the roof of this gorgeous room. There were numerous trees and forests further on the horizon, but he didn't know if they were belonging to his past residency.

After seeing the sun's current placement on the sky, Lucario began to ponder.

"(How long has it been since I was captured and brought here?)" Lucario thought a question that he didn't think he'd ever find the answer to unless he asked someone in Team Rocket who has some connection to him.

Lucario did an about-face and noticed more to the room. He saw two doors, one to his left and one to his right. Curiosity got the better of the Aura Pokémon.

"(For now, I'll just have to postpone that question,)" Lucario walked over to the door to the left and opened it.

Within the door was a bathroom, complete with a sink, a glass-enclosed shower with a platform to sit on inside, and a toilet.

The first item that Lucario decided to ogle is the sink. He looked at the nozzle of the sink and noticed that there were two cylindrical handles on the sides of the nozzle, the one on the left had a red "H" on the tip and the one on the right had a blue "C" on its tip as well. Besides that was a bar of brand-new soap, placed on an impacted slot beside the sink. Not knowing what the bar of soap was for—or what it was _exactly—_, he directed his attention to the sink nozzle's handles.

He put his left paw on the left handle, like a crane claw to an object, and attempted to pull on it gently, but to no avail. Instead of pulling on it harder—since he'd probably pull the handle clean off of the sink with his strength—, he used a different approach. He gave the handle a clockwise twist, and found himself unable to. Next, he attempted to give it a _counter_clockwise twist, and much to his surprise, water immediately began to run out of the nozzle.

"(What the hell?)" Lucario never saw anything like this and began to think that fiddling further with the handle did something to the sink. He alternated between clockwise and counterclockwise twists of the handle, of varying intensity, and noticed that the water poured out more quickly or stopped altogether, depending on how the nozzle is turned.

Eventually, seeing the water made him realize that he was thirsty. Completely absent-minded of proper etiquette and hygiene, Lucario turned the left handle as far as it could go, having the sink pouring water at full blast, kept his left paw there, bent over to the sink, and positioned his head oddly to take a drink of the running water.

Despite the water being at full blast and extremely hot, Lucario paid no mind to it—especially if you recall Lucario developing resilience to extreme heat.

Once Lucario finished drinking scalding tap-water, he reformed his posture and turned off the water. Immediately, he looked in front of him, and stepped back in shock at what he saw before him.

He saw himself…on a mirror above the sink.

"(What the…? Who let this Lucario here?)" He thought upon seeing his reflection in the mirror, clueless that it was his own and thinking that it was someone else altogether.

Instinctively, he formed a battle stance, and noted that his reflection did the same. Lucario's fighting instinct peaked upon seeing this from his reflection.

"(Oh hell no…)" He immediately withdrew his posture, conjured an AURA SPHERE in his paws, and fired it directly at his reflection.

The explosive force from the AURA SPHERE was _more_ than enough to shatter the mirror and leave no sign of it, as well as blow a hole in the wall behind it. Thankfully, no one resided in the room adjacent to his…well, at the moment anyway.

Lucario crossed his arms smugly and then looked to his right, noticing the toilet below him. He looked at it for a few seconds and then looked away, thinking "(It's probably only for the humans to utilize,)" before walking out of the bathroom, clueless and naïve about his refection.

Lucario closed the door behind him without paying further thought to his new bathroom. Along the way to the door to his right, he retrieved his statistics papers, and proceeded promptly to his intended location. He opened the door and encountered a bedroom of upscale proportions.

The bed is both large and strong enough to support a Snorlax. The mattress and pillows are made out of resilient memory foam and not uncomfortable springs, and the blankets are of the highest commercial quality—although Lucario might not need them due to his fur providing all of the warmth and insulation that he requires. All of it was perfectly organized and free of signs of use, until Lucario decided to use it.

He was on his back and he rested his head on the plush pillow that the bed had to offer. He manually maneuvered his tail to his left side so that he wouldn't sleep on top of it. Lucario took his time and accustomed himself to how the bed felt when juxtaposed to the bed he had at his forest home.

"(*Sigh*) (I miss my forest home so much…)" Lucario's eyes and eyelids leveled when he remembered the bed he once had. "(…and the stress-relieving comfort of this mattress isn't helping my nostalgia.)"

He recalled the statistics papers he was holding onto with his left paw and decided to look over them. He moved his upper body upright and immediately, his tail sprung back to its normal position: perpendicular to his body. He crossed his legs and began to skim through the papers.

**Name**: Lucario (Xeno).

**Species**: Aura Pokémon.

**Pokémon Type**: Fighting/Steel.

**Gender**: None.

**Mental Gender:** Male.

"(What in the…?)" Lucario pondered at the last two topics he read. "(What the hell is "**Mental Gender**"? Is that what gender I _feel_ I am, even though I've got nothing to _show_ for it?)"

Lucario paused for a moment and stared blankly at the wall before him, before coming upon this realization.

"(You know what, that's probably what it is, and I should just not care enough about it.)" Lucario thought as he continued reading.

Most of what followed was information that Lucario already knew about, such as his newly-known and named Pokémon ability—Inheritance—and _massive_ move set repertoire. When he scanned information relating to his date of birth and age, he was stumped to realize that there was a date to when he was born.

**Date of Birth**: May 2nd, 1993.

Lucario now knew his date of birth, but had no Idea how time is measured.

"(When I'm able to, I should probably ask how time is measured.)" Lucario thought before resuming his reading.

**Habitat**: Celadon Forest.

He paused when he read that, since it was information relating to his home.

"(Is that the name of the place where I live? I wonder how far it is from here.)"

More stale information was given as he read further, including his height and weight, which are both _higher than average_ for his species. Lucario read the entire paper and set it aside on the bed that he sat on top of.

Overall, he learned a few new topics about himself: **Mental Gender**, his Pokémon ability "Inheritance", **Date of Birth**, **Age**, and **Habitat**.

Immediately, Lucario knew what to do next, and without the need for thought. He took the papers with him outside of the room and set them aside on the table where his other belongings were present, and as he was about to retrieve the three Poké Balls and release the Pokémon within them.

…However.

_**Ring-Ring! Ring-Ring! Ring-Ring!**_

The hotel's telephone rang within the bedroom, beckoning Lucario to answer it. Lucario immediately proceeded over to this siren sound, as if drawn to it. Once in the bedroom again, he pinpointed the phone's location with his ears: on a table next to his bed.

He approached it and looked at it with a dumbfounded countenance, clueless on what to do about its repetitive ringing. And so, using the same approach as with the sink handles, he placed his left paw on the top of the telephone—right on its receiver handle—, gripped it, and pulled it upward. Instantly, the receiver handle of the telephone popped off of the telephone and was in Lucario's paw, the ringing ceased as well. Lucario could hear a voice coming from the receiver handle of the telephone and placed it next to his left ear _properly_.

"Xeno, is this you on the phone?" A familiar voice spoke via telephone.

Lucario immediately rolled his eyes, stifled a sigh, and responded back.

"_Giovanni, is this you on the phone?_" He said with a groaning tone.

"Apparently, you've learned how to use the telephone properly," Giovanni said with mild astonishment.

"(This is a…'telephone'?)" Lucario thought while optically following the cord of the receiver handle to the telephone base.

"And it seems that your telepathy is carried over the receiver and over to me. How queer and convenient…"

"(I suppose…)" Lucario thought before resuming. "_You called for a specific reason?_"

"Yes," Giovanni confirmed Lucario's intuition. "I didn't explain to you how to use a Poké Ball."

"(My Arceus, what's with all of the coincidences lately?)" Lucario pondered before sitting down on the bed once more, with his legs on the carpet floor this time.

"Should I teach you then?" Giovanni inquired. "I will say this though, you need to pay attention because I'll be telling you a surplus of information relating to the Poké Ball, and I don't intend on repeating myself. I am a busy man, after all."

"_Go ahead,_" Lucario responded instantly. "(I am a spiteful Aura _Pokémon_, after all…)"

"Alright then," Giovanni began. "To capture a wild Pokémon with a Poké Ball, you press the button on their center to increase their size. They only have two sizes to switch between."

Lucario, from across the room, quickly retrieved all three of the Poké Balls telekinetically and rested them beside him on top of the bed. With his free right paw, he pressed the center button on Aqua's Net Ball and it instantly grew from the size of a ping-pong ball to the size of a baseball. He pressed the button repeatedly and consistently, making the Net Ball grow and shrink just as quickly as he pressed the button. He stopped after a few seconds, when Giovanni continued.

"Once at full-size, you throw the Poké Ball at the wild Pokémon and _if_ it makes contact with the target, the wild Pokémon will immediately be turned into red energy that the Poké Ball assimilates and stores by opening up and drawing in. The Poké Ball will close and then shake, with its center button flashing red as it attempts to stabilize the red energy that is the wild Pokémon. If the capture is successful, the Poké Ball stops shaking and flashing before making a warped lock sound. If the capture is a failure, the Poké Ball quickly expels the red energy before it reconverts back into the wild Pokémon of your intended target."

Lucario listened attentively and memorized what Giovanni said, despite every fiber of his being telling him otherwise.

"As a general tip, you want to subdue the wild Pokémon to the best of your ability _before_ capturing it. Some Pokémon might be more submissive and not put up any struggle, while others will fight with all of their might to evade capture."

Lucario listened attentively as he stared into Aqua's Net Ball, visualizing Giovanni's instructions in his head, and _repressing_ his first-hand experience with capture—even though he was unconscious when it occurred.

"To remove the captured Pokémon from the Poké Ball, make sure that the Poké Ball is at full-size. Next, you simply throw the Poké Ball into the air and say any word that you wish that connects with the Pokémon coming out of the Poké Ball, such as 'come on out!' or 'I choose you!'. The Poké Ball will remove the Pokémon and the Pokémon will rematerialize from the red energy. They'll be in your command as long as you show enough experience in controlling them."

"_Alright,_" Lucario said.

"If you want to expel a Pokémon and release it back into the wild, you simply repeat the same process for expelling a Pokémon from the Poké Ball, but state a command relating to its release, such as 'be gone!' or 'leave!'. You'll know that the Pokémon is permanently released from its Poké Ball when it rematerializes from _blue_ energy instead of red energy."

"(I'll only consider that when it matters,)" Lucario thought, believing that releasing a Pokémon will be something that he'll seldom do as long as he's a member of Team Rocket.

"Finally, to return a Pokémon to its Poké Ball, you point the center button of the full-sized Poké Ball at the Pokémon and say a command relating to the return of a Pokémon. You can simply say 'return' and that'll suffice."

"(How do these spheres recognize voice commands?)" Lucario wondered.

"Be warned through: only one Pokémon can belong in one Poké Ball. No Poké Ball can hold two Pokémon at one time, or hold onto a different Pokémon that has already been captured by a different Poké Ball."

"_Uh-huh,_" Lucario paid sufficient attention.

"Were you paying attention?"

"_Yes._" Lucario said, easily understanding what Giovanni explained to him.

"Good," Giovanni concluded. "Thank you for your time."

"_You're welcome,_" Lucario said with a serene tone of voice and rolling his eyes in the process.

Giovanni hung up and Lucario now heard a constant low beep from the receiver handle. Not knowing what to do about that, Lucario simply put the telephone's receiver back on its original spot, hearing that the sound stopped.

Before Lucario decided to release Aqua, Terra and Wanderer from their respective Poké Balls, he pondered for a moment.

"(On my free time, I should educate myself about human ways and items. I don't think I'll go far in my plans with Team Liberator if I don't grow more sagacious about my surroundings and these man-made devices,)" Lucario thought before seeing Aqua's Net Ball once more.

Using PSYCHIC, Lucario had all three Poké Balls place themselves on each of his left paw's individual digits. With his right paw, he pressed the center button of each Poké Ball with each of his paw's digits, all three of them. The Poké Balls quickly enlarged to full-size and almost fell off of his paw.

Once more with PSYCHIC, Lucario launched all three Poké Balls in the air and said "_Come on out, everyone,_" with a tone that seemed reluctant and withdrawn, as if he felt embarrassed just _saying_ something at the top of his mental tone without any logical reason.

On cue, each of the three Poké Balls opened up in tandem, and instantly released the red energy that is the imprisoned Pokémon. The Poké Balls closed and homed in on Lucario's left paw, landing there as if trained to do so. Lucario, almost flinching when they came back to him, pressed the buttons on their centers in the same manner as earlier and the three Poké Balls shrunk down to their portable, miniscule size. Lucario set the three compacted capsule spheres aside in order to watch his three Pokémon friends rematerialize into their familiar forms.

Once Aqua, Terra, and Wanderer were themselves again, Lucario had this to say:

"_Oh, what the…?_"

All three Pokémon—Aqua the Lapras, Terra the Garchomp, and Wanderer the light-furred Lucario—were _unconscious_ and on the floor, drooling mildly onto the carpet.

Seeing this easily puzzled the Aura Pokémon and made him hypothesize what made the three Pokémon become how they were presently.

"(Wanderer, I can plainly understand how you're unconscious…)" Lucario pondered, knowing well enough that Team Rocket forced it into unconsciousness through physical force.

Lucario briefly looked at Wanderer before looking at Aqua, its _forehead_ in particular. He noticed a coagulated scab of blood encompassing the center of Aqua's forehead.

"(…as well as Aqua. However…)"

Lucario looked at Terra and couldn't figure out why it was unconscious in the first place, based on external appearances at least.

"(…how did _you_ become unconscious? Did you hit your head when you lost your balance when you were hand-standing on your fins?)"

Lucario began his attempt at waking everyone up, starting off with Terra. He thought of only one method in waking them up, a method that might unintentionally draw blood. Without caring if he _does_ draw blood, he first sharpened his left paw-spike—his right paw-spike was fragmented by Giovanni's armed body guards earlier—with his teeth in a grinding motion, removing uneven edging from it in the process. He then stepped behind Terra, and lightly poked the Mach Pokémon on the back of its neck.

"Ah! Oh Arceus! What? Who? Huh?" Terra quickly jerked up on its two feet after being prodded in the back of the neck and then noticed that it was now somewhere else altogether. "Where am I? Whose room is this?"

Lucario retracted his left arm before speaking. "_Terra, you're in my new room._"

Terra realize his presence after hearing Lucario's telepathic voice and looked back to speak to him. "This is _your_ room? How'd you get a room?"

Lucario looked away from his Mach Pokémon colleague and spitefully said "_Surprisingly, I'm now a member of Team Rocket, under _Giovanni's_ orders actually._ _You, Aqua, and Wanderer are now my three chosen Pokémon._"

"How odd," Terra said before placing a claw on the tip of its head and massaging the area gently, as if the targeted area was bothersome.

"_Do you have a headache?_" Lucario noticed Terra's action.

"I think so," Terra put his clawed appendage to his side. "It probably happened when my fins gave out and I hit my head on the floor."

Lucario was somewhat confused at what Terra said just now. "_What floor? I never saw you lose your balance and fall on your head._"

"I meant the floor inside my Poké Ball," Terra added. "You see, a Poké Ball creates a world where our minds can wander when our bodies are temporarily in the state of pure energy. The world depends on what we're feeling or what we prefer. And any action that we do with our minds translates to our bodies when we reemerge from our spherical prisons and rematerialize."

"_I didn't know that,_" Lucario admitted. "_Then again, how _would_ I when I was unconscious prior to my capture._"

"Well now you know, my naïve little friend. You'll learn something new every day in Team Rocket, which is probably what we'll all need if we plan on escaping together and with as many Pokémon as possible, right."

"_Right, for _our_ sake,_" Lucario nodded. "_By the way, there's something that I need to say before I proceed._"

"What is it?" Terra became curious.

"_I've been nicknamed by Giovanni,_" Lucario said concisely.

"He's the one who captured you, right?" Terra assumed.

"_You're _assuming_ that Giovanni captured me, right?_" Lucario said, never telling Terra about who captured him.

Terra nodded, feeling quite sure of its hypothesis.

"_Lucky guess… Anyway, I'm now named 'Xeno', and I believe that I should start being addressed as such. It would help me lose my unfamiliarity to my new name._"

"'Xeno', huh…" Terra put the point of one of its claws on its chin. "Just like 'Aqua', 'Terra' and 'Wanderer', there's meaning to those nicknames, right?"

Lucario nodded slowly in response. "_From what I remember, Giovanni told me that 'Xeno' means unknown or enigmatic._"

"Well that makes sense," Terra removed the claw from his chin. "I know next to nothing about you."

Lucario looked back at Aqua and Wanderer with concern, knowing that they needed to be awakened. "_We shouldn't waste anymore time talking. Aqua and Wanderer should be up on their feet now._"

"Right," Terra said before moving over to Wanderer.

Lucario moved over to Aqua after Terra approached Wanderer. Both of them began to gently shake their respective targets until they woke up. However, after a few seconds, the only result came from Aqua, and that result was downright pitiful.

"No... No more...apologizing..." Aqua mumbled while mentally asleep.

"..." Wanderer was just silent and unmoved, especially since it temporarily weighs 2000% _more_ than average at the moment.

"It's like trying to tip over a Snorlax..." Terra stopped nudging the unconscious Aura Pokémon and was showing mild fatigue. "When did Wanderer suddenly _weigh_ so much?"

"_Wanderer once told me that all Steel-Type Pokémon have some sort of defensive biological mechanism implanted into them,_" Lucario continued to nudge Aqua and attempt to revive it, in vain unfortunately. "_If a Steel-Type Pokémon faints and becomes unconscious, its body quickly becomes extremely dense and multiplies its overall body weight exponentially._"

"What's the point of it?" Terra was somewhat naive.

"_It's a _defensive_ biological mechanism,_" Lucario's telepathic voice elevated briefly in mild annoyance, and in helping Terra comprehend his explanation. "_If it makes your body _denser_, then that makes it harder for anything to _harm_ you, assuming you've already been injured by something._"

"Well I'm not a Steel-Type Pokémon. I'm a Dragon-Type and Ground-Type Pokémon. I wouldn't know about this phenomenon."

"_I don't blame you_." Lucario stepped over to Wanderer and looked down on its stagnant face. "_It would save us more trouble if we wake up Wanderer first, because I'm beginning to hear the floor creak under its weight._"

"Good point," Terra said. "But don't you think we should resort to _these?_" Terra lifted its arms and eyed the claws on them before setting them aside.

Lucario lifted his paws and briefly eyed his hand-spikes before setting them down. "_I was actually considering using these. I used my _intact_ one when I woke you up just now._"

"(That explains why I woke up so suddenly...)" Terra thought, before realizing something off about Lucario's paw-spikes. "Hey, what happened to your right paw?"

"_You remember that 'bang' sound when we were temporarily imprisoned?_"

"Yes."

"_The Rocket Grunt's rifles shattered it instantly when I tried to attack Giovanni out of blind anger,_" Lucario recalled. "_I don't think that I was ever closer to death than right there, and I've _had_ quite a few near-death experiences to support that claim._"

"Let's hope that _that_ never happens again."

"(Who knows?)" Lucario thought, unsure of the future ahead of him.

Both of them began to wake up Wanderer with sharp prodding of their claws and hand-spikes. Through a few seconds of this, Wanderer _did_ react. However, Wanderer reacted in a way that was bizarre enough to leave both Lucario and Terra perplexed.

"_No mom... I couldn't possibly eat any more of your crap..._" Wanderer muttered in its sleep.

Both Pokémon were silent after hearing Wanderer's muttering, but for simplicity's sake, they just decided to forget about it.

"…Anyway, I don't think that prodding Wanderer is going to wake him up." Terra changed the topic.

"_Hmm... What now?_" Lucario crossed his arms, not sure of what to do next. "_I'm at a loss..._"

"_Do you all desire my support?_" A deep and powerful voice came from the room's entrance.

The eyes of both Lucario and Terra widened upon hearing the voice of whatever was behind them. They both turned around in unison and were greeted with an unexpected surprise.

Before their eyes, an unusual bipedal feline-like Pokémon stood. This Pokémon has purple eyes, pale gray skin, thick fingertips, rabbit-like feet, and a purple underbelly that ends into a long purple tail.

_**(National Pokédex entry #150: Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokémon. It is a Psychic-Type Pokémon that is 6' 07" tall and weighs 269 lbs. A Pokémon created by recombining Mew's genes. It's said to have the most savage heart among Pokémon. So if you ever battle it, you should consider yourself a walking **_**dead**_**.)**_

Both Lucario and Terra were surprised at how this Pokémon entered without a sound. They knew that the entire room was quiet enough for them to hear even the slightest sounds.

"How did you get in here?" Terra spoke to the Genetic Pokémon, not knowing what to make of it.

"_…Through the entrance door,_" It spoke concisely.

"(Telepathy...)" Lucario thought. "_And you didn't make a sound when you entered?_"

"_I simply utilized my innate psychic abilities to open the door. Perhaps my _method_ in entering is what's considered abnormal to you both. I maneuvered the doorknob's mechanisms to the point where a simple push is sufficient in opening the door._"

"Oh..." Terra had its question answered.

_"Who _are_ you exactly?"_ Lucario asked out of curiosity.

"_Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokémon._" It said before stepping forward, across both conscious Pokémon, and kneeling down to see both Aqua and Wanderer better. He looked at them both, one after the other, before stepping back up and facing Lucario and Terra. "_Do either one of you recall what I stated earlier?_"

"You mean if we desire your support?" Terra recalled.

Mewtwo nodded after Terra spoke.

"_If you can, go ahead then._" Lucario gave the Genetic Pokémon permission.

Mewtwo faced Aqua and Wanderer and then it extended out both of its stubby hands towards them. In an instant, Mewtwo's entire eyes flashed blue before Aqua and Wanderer were succumbed to Mewtwo's telekinetic abilities. They hovered over to Mewtwo's hands and stopped inches from it. Mewtwo simply placed one hand on each of their foreheads and concentrated for mere moments before both Aqua's and Wanderer's eyes opened, becoming awake and alert.

"_Who the hell are you?_" Wanderer eyes opened, ogling the Genetic Pokémon first.

"Were we unconscious?" Aqua questioned the Pokémon before its presence.

"_My name is Mewtwo, and I simply revived you both from unconsciousness._" Mewtwo answered their questions before gently setting them down and removing the telekinetic grip that it had on them.

"_I should explain all of this before you begin your questions,_" Lucario talked to Aqua and Wanderer.

They paid close attention. Terra as well, since it was mostly uninformed about this as they both were.

"_Team Rocket has made me a genuine member of their organization instead of a mere Pokémon pawn._"

"_I myself included,_" Mewtwo added.

"_All three of you are Pokémon that I was requested to use for whatever Team Rocket has assigned for me. Mewtwo and I were given this room to inhabit._"

Mewtwo eyed Lucario temporarily. "(So you're the roommate that Giovanni described…)"

"_Finally,_ _since Giovanni _'owns'_ me,"_ Lucario said that possessive word sourly. _"He nicknamed me 'Xeno', due to my unknown nature and potential. I truly don't care if you choose to refer to me as 'Xeno', 'Lucario', or both. I figure that I should grow accustomed to it, whether I like the nickname or not._"

"_Hmm..._" Wanderer pondered the information told to it.

"..." Aqua looked at the alien items in the room that it was in. It had never seen items such as these, especially since the _ocean_ is where Aqua calls home.

Lucario eyed Mewtwo this time.

"_So _you're_ the first Pokémon recruited into Team Rocket, the one that Giovanni told me about._" Lucario said.

"_I am,_" Mewtwo said, looking at the Aura Pokémon.

After more introductions, all five Pokémon in the room decided to examine the room and its luxurious contents. When Aqua noticed the gaping hole on the wall in the bathroom, Lucario explained how there was an intruder in the room and how he scared it off with AURA SPHERE. Mewtwo explained that what Lucario _truly_ saw was his own reflection in a mirror. Lucario didn't seem to feel any signs of embarrassment or stupidity once mirrors were known to him. He simply thought of them as similar to the reflections that he sees of himself in water, only far _less_ distorted.

Terra succeeded in utilizing the television and Wanderer succeeded in utilizing room service via telephone. For a few hours, everyone watched television and enjoyed gourmet food that was delivered to them by a Team Rocket gourmet chef.

Before sleeping, Lucario eventually asked if Mewtwo was tasked with any Pokémon, just as was with Aqua, Terra, and Wanderer. Mewtwo said that it passed on the opportunity given to it by Giovanni, preferring to _only_ strengthen its overall being, as Giovanni promised it that it would when they first met.

"_For what reason do you want me to choose Pokémon to possess?_" Mewtwo asked.

"_It's for Team Liberator,_" Lucario stated.

"_Team Liberator…?_"

"_Aqua, Terra, Wanderer and I have plans for escaping Team Rocket with as many Pokémon within this building as possible. We want you to join us and escape when the time is right, and we also want you to do what I did and have a few Pokémon on your being. With more Pokémon joining our cause, our chances at success improve._"

"…" Mewtwo's facial countenance was lacking interest and remained stagnant.

"_We all have our own reasons for escape,_" Lucario responded. "_Aqua was captured here reluctantly from her ocean home, Terra has served Team Rocket its whole life, Wanderer and I have had our friends _murdered _by Team Rocket before they captured us both._"

"..." Mewtwo seemed to show absolutely _no_ emotion whatsoever, something that its face properly reflected.

Lucario noticed Mewtwo's emotionally stagnant state and apprehensively thought "(This isn't good... I'm not getting to you.)"

"_No, you're not. Try harder, especially if you want me to join your 'Team Liberator'._" Mewtwo read Lucario's mind.

Lucario couldn't think of a critical reason among its friends, however it _did_ think of something different and _personal_.

"_Do _you_ desire escape?_" He said.

"_…Unfortunately, I _don't_ desire escape. The plain reason that Giovanni can help me control my power is sufficient for me to remain here. I should count myself fortunate that I can _partially_ control my psychic abilities earlier, especially after reviving Aqua and Wanderer earlier today._"

"_What do you mean?_" Lucario showed concern.

"_If I failed to control my psychic abilities when reviving your friends, the possibility of severe damage, or even death, might have been critical._"

"_And you revived them anyway, despite the fact that you lack complete control over yourself?_" Lucario began to feel anger, which wasn't apparent in his voice, only in his mind.

"_My abilities have the greatest chance to fail me when I lose control of my emotions. The only time that my abilities have run rampant was when I _obliterated_ the laboratory from where I was born in. Beyond that day, I knew that I needed a more refined character, in order to control my abilities._"

"(No wonder you act so stable and serene,)" Lucario thought.

"_I'll say this to you,_" Mewtwo prepared to conclude. "_I respect your desire to escape, along with all of your friends. And because of this, I'll ask for Pokémon as soon as I possibly can, in order to benefit your thoughtful ambitions. Albeit, I won't _guarantee_ you that I'll join you when you all finally decide to escape…and _if_ you succeed in escaping._"

Mewtwo looked out for the massive windows and noticed that it was as sable as can be. It couldn't observe the outside horizon if it wanted to.

"_Nighttime is present. We should both get some rest while we're able to. Giovanni has something prepared for us tomorrow, you in particular._"

"_Did he tell you before you were transferred into Room 29-6?_" Lucario assumed.

"_No, he never told me,_" Mewtwo looked up at Room 29-6's roof. "_I'm currently reading his thoughts as he's sleeping in his bed. We reside directly below him._"

Lucario looked up and activated his Aura Vision ability to sense Giovanni's aura. Looking with golden eyes, he pinpointed Giovanni's location and tuned his ears to hear Giovanni's thoughts. He could hear Giovanni thinking, in his sleep, how he would have something important in store for Lucario.

What exactly it _was_ however, wasn't made known.

Mewtwo sensed how Lucario's aura output increased significantly. It also noticed how Lucario's eyes changed color from their previous blood red to a luminous gold, how bloodshot Lucario's eyes became, how veins began to protrude and swell around Lucario's eyes, and how Lucario's dreadlock-like appendages hovered horizontally.

"(Interesting...)" Mewtwo thought while observing the aura proficiency of a Lucario first-hand.

* * *

><p><em><span>9.1: Now Working for Team Rocket<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 10)

Date: October 11th, 2010 (10/11/10)

Time: 11:14 AM

Upon waking up on the next day, Lucario and Mewtwo were awakened by Giovanni via telephone. They were both ordered to report to Floor 10 of Team Rocket Main Headquarters at 1100 hours—11:00 AM. Both Pokémon retrieved breakfast before then, because they were awakened at 9:00 AM and had plenty of time.

Before arriving on Floor 10 of Team Rocket Main Headquarters, Lucario had with him his Expert Belt, strapped across his _torso_ instead of his waistline, as well as his three party Pokémon—Aqua, Terra, and Wanderer—inside their respective Poke Balls and tucked away within the excess fur of his thighs.

Upon arriving to Floor 10, both Pokémon instantly noticed the contents of the room. Floor 10 was the most technologically heavy room in the entire headquarters, filled with numerous prototype machines, vehicles, and weaponry. Giovanni was already within the room, expecting them both.

"Come with me," Giovanni said upon noticing them.

Both Pokémon followed him without hesitation or second thoughts. They looked further into detail on what was around them. Lucario noticed prototype weaponry. Mewtwo noticed the complexity of manufacturing vehicles, which involved welding, steel, and a Spinarak's web of electronic circuitry. They looked back at Giovanni every few seconds, only to make sure that they were close behind him.

Giovanni stopped them when they reached the destination point within Floor 10. Both Mewtwo and Lucario noticed two sets of machinery, each holding onto various battle armor pieces that was exactly their size and matched their physical figure. Both sets of battle armor were connected in almost every point with wires, and were recharging and gaining power.

Mewtwo knew well what this was, however Lucario was clueless of what to make of the machinery.

"I've taken the liberty of having battle armor manufactured for you as well, Xeno. You are required to wear it when you train or go on missions," Giovanni explained.

Lucario noticed the differences in the two sets of battle armor. Both sets of armor—the helmets in particular—had differences in their structure that suited each Pokémon. Mewtwo's helmet had a flattened face and Lucario's helmet had an elongated snout, for Lucario's snout to fit properly in. Both helmets also took into account their ears and the back of their heads—Lucario with his dreadlock-like appendages and Mewtwo with his secondary spinal cord.

Mewtwo was already familiar with this battle armor, while Lucario was examining it and gradually familiarizing himself with each individual component.

"Stand on these platforms," Giovanni pointed at platforms that resided in front of the battle armor. "And hold still as the battle armor is equipped onto your bodies."

Both Pokémon proceeded as ordered, and stood on their respective platforms. Lucario removed his Expert Belt, along with his three Poke Balls, and set it all aside onto a nearby table, in case they would press on him as the armor is placed.

Intelligent robotic arms and hydraulics removed each individual part of the battle armor with precision. Each set consisted of nine main parts, with differences to suit their respective Pokémon: the helmet—with high-tech visor installed—, two shoulder plates, two gauntlets—with holes on Lucario's pair, to incorporate his paw-spikes—, a chest plate—with a hole in its center to incorporate Lucario's chest-spike—, a groin plate, and two anklets.

In only one minute, both Lucario and Mewtwo had all nine pieces of the battle armor placed on them. The shoulder plates, chest plate, and groin plate linked together, while the remaining five pieces resided separately.

Mewtwo remained stagnant, knowing well enough how this battle armor worked. Lucario however, quickly began to adapt to how the armor worked.

Lucario adapted to the LCD display of the visor within the helmet. He estimated how heavy the battle armor was—which was surprisingly _lighter_ than it appeared—and even attempted to move with the equipment on his body. He didn't proceed further than the platform that he and Mewtwo were standing upon, since dozens of wires attached on specific jacks on the back of his battle armor—as well as Mewtwo's battle armor—prevented it.

Through the visors that they both had, they noticed a loading bar on the screen. The loading bar, along with the plugged wires on their armor, removed themselves after another minute and this message appeared on the screen for a few moments:

COPIED DATA TRANSFERRED

"_'Copied data transferred'? What does that mean?_" Lucario asked.

"The data that we have for your battle armor to possess has been duplicated and transferred onto its memory database," Giovanni said. "The necessities are placed inside it, including a GPS program, a Pokedex, and a telephone. They are all activated with either mental or voice commands, since there's no external method in accessing these functions."

Lucario only understood half of what Giovanni said. He only truly understood when Giovanni mentioned a telephone—since he had used a telephone yesterday—and either mental or voice commands.

Mewtwo, on the other hand, understood everything and was already searching through the functions of the armor, in order to know what was exactly programmed onto it.

"You should find your aura and psychic abilities increase immediately upon using this battle armor for battle."

"_What makes this armor improve our abilities?_" Lucario said.

"The materials utilized in manufacturing the armor are of a titanium-crystalline alloy that responds to your innate power and amplifies it by 25%. Your powers will gradually grow more focused and amplified with the progression of wearing the armor over time."

"(A 25% increase in power...)" Lucario thought to himself, before moving more with the armor on, and could feel a mild hindrance of some of his movements. "_You said that this armor amplifies our powers, however it also hinders some of my movement._"

"(That's what I said when I first had this battle armor on me,)" Mewtwo thought to Lucario's statement.

"That's only temporary, as you grow accustomed to this armor." Giovanni assured the Aura Pokémon. "And now to put your new armor to its first test, to see what you're truly capable of..."

Giovanni paused on order to ponder what he should do to test Lucario. He remained paused briefly before continuing.

"Follow me." Giovanni began to walk away and exit Floor 10.

Mewtwo followed him, discreetly reading his mind in order to know what Giovanni had planned for him. Lucario retrieved his items, placed them back onto his being, and followed behind Mewtwo.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Outside)<span>

Date: October 11th, 2010 (10/11/10)

Time: 11:49 AM

Upon exiting Team Rocket Main Headquarters, Giovanni, Lucario, and Mewtwo noticed two cargo helicopters awaiting them. Team Rocket Grunts were already boarding them, and awaiting them as the final passengers. The engines of the cargo helicopters began to start and the helicopter blades began to revolve, slowly at first, and then with gradually increasing centripetal velocity and stalwart gales.

"Here are the basics of your first assignments!" Giovanni had to speak up in order to overcome the aural power of the helicopter blades.

Both Lucario and Mewtwo had no problem in listening to him, despite the noise of the helicopters or the gale that they generated.

"Xeno, you are to enter the cargo helicopter to my right!" Giovanni pointed at the cargo helicopter to his right. "Join them in capturing more Pokémon for our organization! Do you recall how to use a Poké Ball?"

"_Yes sir!_" Lucario responded back concisely and loudly.

"Good!" Giovanni reached into the inner pockets of his orange suit and retrieved a bag, filled with thirty assorted Poke Balls—consisting of ten Great Balls, ten Quick Balls, and ten Ultra Balls. "Don't disappoint me!" He threw the bag of assorted Poke Balls to Lucario, whom caught it effortlessly.

Lucario quickly boarded the cargo helicopter that Giovanni directed him to and sat down on one of the empty seats, keeping hateful and reluctant thoughts to a minimum and falsifying optimism. He disregarded the presence of the other Team Rocket Grunts as well, especially their gossip as to how Giovanni allowed another Pokémon to join their ranks. He peered into the bag given to him, and noticed the vast quantity of Poke Balls within it.

"(I hope I can sleep soundly tonight and call myself a Pokémon after today...)" Lucario thought mournfully before the cargo helicopter's door closed and the vehicle began to rise and travel over to wherever they were going.

With Lucario out of the equation, Giovanni conversed with Mewtwo, the other Pokémon before him.

"Mewtwo, I need you to come with me to Viridian City's Gym! I need to further test your power and witness your potential firsthand against other Pokémon."

Mewtwo nodded once without saying one word or showing any emotion. They both entered and boarded the remaining helicopter, moments before it too began to elevate and travel over to Viridian Gym.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Kanto (Route 28)<span>

Date: October 12th, 2010 (10/12/10)

Time: 12:05 PM (Five Past Noon)

_Soldier Side/Hypnotize/System of a Down_

_(Song Begins With Melancholy Guitar Chord)_

The cargo helicopter that Lucario boarded traveled for an entire day to reach Route 28, a grassland route in the Kanto region that connects Mt. Silver to the Indigo Plateau. Once the cargo helicopter descended and touched down, all of the Grunts—including Lucario—quickly unloaded from the cargo helicopter and noticed a herd of Ponyta and Rapidash, with their numbers in the hundreds.

Armed with their Pokémon, all of the Grunts went into action in order to capture as many—if not _all_—Pokémon as possible.

_(Dead men lying on the bottom of the grave.)_

Lucario, utilizing EXTREMESPEED and wielding Wanderer's Great Ball in one paw and Terra's Quick Ball on the other paw, charged over to the front of the running herd of the Fire Horse Pokémon. He stopped when he was approximately twenty seconds in front of them all, meaning he ran at _triple_-digit speed in order to overtake them.

_(Wondering when savior comes, is he gonna be saved.)_

He threw both Poke Balls in front of him and out appeared Terra and Wanderer through red energy. The empty Poke Balls returned to Lucario, and he ordered both Pokémon to attack the oncoming herd with whatever means necessary, as long as they don't kill them in the process.

_(Maybe you're a sinner into your alternate life.)_

Terra quickly ran towards the center of the herd, evading all oncoming Ponyta and Rapidash in the process. Upon reaching the center of the herd to the best of its ability, Terra quickly jumped three stories into the air and landed with both arms slamming onto the earth, creating an earth-shattering EARTHQUAKE that stopped the _second_ half of the herd from approaching by toppling them over form their galloping strides.

_(Maybe you're a joker, maybe you deserve to die.)_

Wanderer, whom covered the first half of the herd, quickly utilized DOUBLE TEAM to duplicate itself twelve-fold. Afterwards, all twelve Lucario utilized AURA SPHERE and SHADOW BALL in tandem, and with precise accuracy. All of the projectiles struck cold with the faces of the Fire Horse Pokémon, quickly causing them to collapse upon fainting from the shock of impact.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Viridian City (Viridian Gym)<span>

Date: October 12th, 2010 (10/12/10)

Time: 12:07 PM (Seven Past Noon)

_(They were crying when their sons left.)_

Mewtwo, already within the battlefield of the Viridian Gym, faced the first Pokémon of an anonymous Pokémon Trainer. Giovanni, sitting atop of an opera theater-style balcony, hidden by the light and given the appearance of a silhouette, snapped his fingers and simultaneously pointed at the anonymous trainer's Magneton.

_(God is wearing black.)_

The anonymous Pokémon Trainer made the first move and ordered the Magneton to use THUNDER. The Magneton quickly sparked vast quantities of yellow light and fired a precise bolt of lightning towards Mewtwo.

_(He's gone so far to find no hope.)_

_(He's never coming back.)_

The lightning quickly struck Mewtwo with all of its force and completely veiled it with its light. So to the Pokémon Trainer, it would appear to be a direct hit.

…Unfortunately.

_(They were crying when their sons left.)_

Mewtwo, within the light, was never even stunned by THUNDER. Its eyes began to emanate blue light, and they were visible from outside the THUNDER attack.

_(All young men must go.)_

Utilizing PSYCHIC, and with one of its hands held outward, it controlled THUNDER and redirected all of the escaping electricity right back at the opponent's Magneton, shocking it with its own power.

_(He's come so far to find the truth.)_

_(He's never going home.)_

The Magneton quickly collapsed onto the floor, with its own electricity stunning it to the point where it's unable to continue the battle.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Kanto (Route 28)<span>

Date: October 12th, 2010 (10/12/10)

Time: 12:09 PM (Nine Past Noon)

_(Young men standing on the top of their own graves.)_

About 20% of the Fire Horse Pokémon herd continued to gallop, and Lucario was in front of them. Lucario wasn't prepared to step aside, and the Ponyta and Rapidash aren't willing to move out of the way either.

_(Wondering when Jesus comes, are they gonna be saved.)_

"(You shall not pass...)" Lucario thought before channeling his entire aura in the form of surrounding green light.

_(Cruelty to the winner, bishop tells the king his lies.)_

_(Maybe you're a mourner, maybe you deserve to die.)_

The green light that surrounded Lucario's entire body was immediately channeled into his left paw. The end result of the power accumulation is a dense orb of green light, the first signs of Lucario's FRENZY PLANT attack. What Lucario did with that light is slam it into the earth below, burying his paw and the sphere of green light under the dirt.

_(They were crying when their sons left.)_

Instantly, Lucario's FRENZY PLANT attack took effect. Dozens of spiked vines, as thick as telephone poles and just as tall, erupted from the earth and began to seize all oncoming Ponyta and Rapidash with ease.

_(God is wearing black.)_

The FRENZY PLANT vines wrapped and held all of the oncoming Fire Horse Pokémon and restricted their actions by holding them high in the air.

_(He's gone so far to find no hope.)_

_(He's never coming back.)_

With all of the wild Fire Horse Pokémon subdued. Lucario returned his Pokémon back into their Poké Balls, stored them away, and exposed the Poké Ball bag given to him by Giovanni earlier.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Viridian City (Viridian Gym)<span>

Date: October 12th, 2010 (10/12/10)

Time: 12:14 PM (Fourteen Past Noon)

_(They were crying when their sons left.)_

Another anonymous trainer, one with spiky hair, a purple sweater, and a yellow-green yin-yang necklace, decided to fight Mewtwo, albeit never knowing the identity of the Pokémon.

_(All young men must go.)_

The anonymous trainer released an Arcanine and Nidoking, both of which were eager for battle against the unknown Genetic Pokémon.

_(He's come so far to find no truth.)_

Not even giving a chance to attack, Mewtwo immediately utilized PSYCHIC and rendered both Pokémon immobile in mid-air.

_(He's never going home.)_

"(But why am I here…?)" Mewtwo, never caring about the battle's outcome, pondered its purpose in life, a topic that consistently plagues its thoughts.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Kanto (Route 28)<span>

Date: October 12th, 2010 (10/12/10)

Time: 12:15 PM (Fifteen Past Noon)

_(Chorus solo)_

Every Grunt on Route 28 armed themselves with the Poké Balls on them and began to capture the immobile Pokémon as quickly as possible. Every human Grunt threw their Poké Balls and would seldom miss. Lucario on the other hand, he would control them with PSYCHIC and would redirect them if he and they ever missed, so as to utilize every Poké Ball with 100% efficiency.

_(Welcome to the soldier side.)_

Slowly but surely, every Ponyta and Rapidash was captured. Escape was impossible for all of the Fire Horse Pokémon.

_(Where there is no one here but me.)_

Once all of the Pokémon were caught, every Grunt returned to the cargo helicopter, deposited the captured Pokémon in the cargo hold of it, and proceeded to return home after a day's work.

_(People all grow up to die.)_

The engines and propellers of the cargo helicopter began to revolve and roar. The cargo helicopter slowly hovered into the air, before pointing towards Team Rocket Main Headquarters and heading home.

_(There is no one here but me.)_

Lucario couldn't help but fell hypocritical after his actions today. Not too long ago, he hated the thought of Pokémon slavery. Now, he finds himself playing a role in it, and he couldn't help but sigh in anguish of his actions.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Viridian City (Viridian Gym)<span>

Date: October 12th, 2010 (10/12/10)

Time: 12:19 PM (Nineteen Past Noon)

_(Welcome to the soldier side.)_

Mewtwo's final opponent for the day was an anonymous Pokémon Trainer's Alakazam.

_(There is no one here but me.)_

The Trainer's Alakazam armed itself with spoons, one on each hand, which amplify its incredible psychic power.

_(People on the soldier side.)_

Mewtwo's PSYCHIC power proved overwhelming to the opponent Pokémon's psychic power. With ease, it bent Alakazam's spoons, stunning it, and then sent the Pokémon flying towards the wall, knocking it out cold with minimal effort.

_(There is no one here but me.)_

Mewtwo, with no more opponents to fight for the day, was ordered by Giovanni to return to the back rooms of the Viridian Gym, where machinery there would connect to Mewtwo's armor and collect battle data on its abilities.

_(Song ends sorrowfully)_

Mewtwo was in that back room, meditating to himself about his purpose in life, as the machinery did what it was manufactured to do for its battle armor.

* * *

><p>"The soldier must fear his officers more than he fears the bullets of the enemy. You could not rule without the naked exercise of power. The followers must bow their heads to the leader. They must <em>surrender<em> their heads, using only the mind and will of the leader to rule them." —Orson Scott Card (376) ("_Ender's Shadow_")

* * *

><p>I can't help but feel that I was just hit and miss with the lyrics of <em>Soldier Side<em>, but I chose that song because of its tone of hopelessness. It's also one of my favorite songs from that band, alongside _Chop Suey!, Deer Dance, Kill Rock 'N Roll, Revenga, Roulette, _and_ Tentative._

Xeno Lucario, the info that he read through those statistics papers. I also added this chapter into my "Table of Contents" segment, adding the song link to _Soldier Side_ as well.

Anyway, before I conclude for now, I felt like stating my opinion on the anatomy of Pokémon.

I never thought of Pokémon having gender-specific biological anatomy, which is why I stated "Mental Gender" rather than "Gender".

Also, the bit where Lucario disregarded the toilet. I never thought of Pokémon having bowels or anything of the sort either.

So, I think that Pokémon are both lacking in physical gender and in any excretory systems. I think this way because I believe that they require every little bit of energy they obtain from their environments, in order to fuel their phenomenal abilities and supernatural traits, and can't afford to waste it on unnecessary waste disposal, or sexual reproduction.

In some way, it makes sense when you think how humans (powerless as we are) have this and Pokémon (powerful as they are) do not.

However, if I think this way, then I'm already creating these two counterarguments:

1. Pokémon mulch.

2. Pokémon eggs.

Well, here's my response to that:

1. When the person you buy mulch from says "I made this by mixing high-grade soil and Pokémon...um...you know..." (or something of the sort, It's been a while since I played _Pokémon Platinum_), who ever said that they're referring to fecal matter? For all we know, it could just be something else, something entirely different.

2. No one's ever seen a Pokémon lay an egg. Perhaps they lack the capability of doing so. But if that's the case, then how do they continue to populate?

I'd spoil my story if I stated my opinion on Pokémon eggs. So for now, it's sort of an enigma.

Anyway, that's what I think, and I'll embrace it as I continue to write. So for now, good-bye and don't forget to review.

I seriously would like to know what you all think. But it's not mandatory, and I'm not obliging you all to. It's only if you all feel like it.


	10. Chapter IV (4)

...Hmm... Has it only been a month since my last update? My God, where has the time gone?

Oh wait, I know. My time has been spent at my part-time job at Subway. Or to be more specifically, every five hours of my evening (around 4-9, sometimes 3-9). This much work was done to compensate for one of my co-workers leaving on a two-week vacation. I'm glad I still had time to write in the first half of my day.

Work wasn't all that bad though. I didn't have a day off after working for 22 days straight, but the work wasn't agonizing. It was bearable.

At least I'll get me a fat paycheck from it. That'll be helpfulfor my future college plans.

But anyway, that's enough of what I've been through during my FanFic hiatus. Let's get back to this.

I not only _surpassed_ my 1,000th view, but kept going. I'm currently at 1,132 views. Not bad for this rising star.

A third username (by the name of ZealousZoroark) decided to review my FanFic and praise my fourth chapter, mentioning that my story was one of the best for having a Lucario fight. Looking back at that fight, I really find it surprising that it was all off of the top of my head. But I kept going with it and made it work so well.

Another new song makes its presence into this chapter: the trainer battle theme of _Pokemon FireRed_ and _Pokemon LeafGreen_.

This chapter, along with its succeeding "Chapter V (5)" is a two-parter, diving head-first into Mewtwo's and Xeno Lucario's careers in Team Rocket. There will be new Pokemon faces, a few facts of myself put into the story, as well as interesting topics for the future of the plot of this story.

But you don't have to take my word for it. You simply have to keep reading to find out for yourself.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy what I've put into words.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter IV (4): Daily Life in Team Rocket (Part I (1))<strong>

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 30/Roof Floor): Registration Room

Date: October 14th, 2010 (10/14/10)

Time: 9:36 PM (Night)

"You come to me on this day and ask me a request. Why do you decide to choose three Pokémon, and now of all times?" Giovanni said, reclined back on his office chair.

Mewtwo, whom was sitting on the office chair closest to Giovanni, was silent, with its pale-green eyes half-open.

"_Let's just say that I've had a thought recollection._"

Giovanni switched his hi-tech desk on. The screen displayed images of dozens of Pokémon that were captured recently. Next to each image is the Poké Ball that each individual Pokémon was captured in, as well as their current move set and type attribute. "Choose your three Pokémon wisely." He said simply.

Mewtwo looked down at the Pokémon on the table's screen and observed each one carefully. It noticed that the selection was stretched across multiple options, and that each Pokémon had potential, as long as it was being raised by the right person—or _Pokémon_ in this case.

"I see that you're taking your time before choosing," Giovanni said after a minute had gone by. "You're clearly considering your options."

Mewtwo was focused on its options and didn't show any physical regard as to what Giovanni said. Mewtwo was slowly drawing itself to one option, and in the end, it chose three Pokémon that met its criteria.

"_I'll take these three Pokémon as my own._" Mewtwo pointed at the three Pokémon of its preferences.

"Would you like to give them nicknames?" Giovanni said, before standing up from his seat and then stepping towards the teleportation machine/computer on the right side of his room, preparing to retrieve the three Pokémon that Mewtwo had chosen.

"_No. I'd rather not,_" Mewtwo stated simply, following Giovanni's movements.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6<span>

Date: October 14th, 2010 (10/14/10)

Time: 10:04 PM (Night)

"_So you chose _these_ three Pokémon, right?_" Lucario noticed the three Pokémon that Mewtwo chose, whom were lined up next to each other. "_May I ask for your reasons?_"

"_All I desired was a team with type attribute variety. If I chose Pokémon with similar type attributes as yours, then we all would be lacking in options._" Mewtwo said.

The three Pokémon that Mewtwo chose—a Duskull, a Larvitar, and a Shinx—, are somewhat uncomfortable with their current environment and these strange Pokémon that they've never seen before. They were stagnant with timidity, silent and naïve before the discussing Lucario and Mewtwo.

_**(National Pokédex entry #355: Duskull, the Requiem Pokémon. It is a Ghost-Type Pokémon that measures in at about 2' 07" and weighs in at approximately 33.1 lbs. It loves the crying of children. It startles bad kids by passing through walls and making them cry. Unfortunately, it is too timorous to do so and there is absolutely no human children whatsoever in Team Rocket.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #246: Larvitar, the Rough Skin Pokémon. It is a Rock-Type and Ground-Type Pokémon that measures 2' 00" and weighs in at a surprising 158.7 lbs. A Pokémon that eats soil. Once it has eaten a large mountain, it goes to sleep so it can grow. It probably has a limited diet if it resorts to eating dirt off of the ground.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #403: Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. It is an Electric-Type Pokémon that measures in at 1' 08" and weighs about 20.9 lbs. The extension and contraction of its muscles generates electricity. It glows when in trouble. That would be perfect attribute to have for navigating out of a dark labyrinth if it ever got lost inside of one.)**_

"_I can sense great discomfort in them,_" Lucario said, utilizing his aura abilities discreetly and in minimalistic quantities. "_How old are these three Pokémon?_"

"_Three months. They were born here and know nothing of the environment beyond Team Rocket Main Headquarters._" Mewtwo said concisely. "_They lack battle experience and will most likely be killed, unless I give them what they require for survival._"

Aqua, Terra, and Wanderer decided not to be present anymore after sensing the dispositions of Mewtwo's party Pokémon. They retreated back into the confines of their respective Poké Balls—which were placed on Room 29-6's display table—to enjoy their short slumber. Only Lucario, Mewtwo, and Mewtwo's party Pokémon of three were currently present in Room 29-6.

"_What will you do to help them survive?_"

"_Training,_" Mewtwo answered instantly. "_I'll begin tomorrow morning, after all four of us have had proper sustenance. Will you be joining us?_"

"_Regrettably, no,_" Lucario moaned mildly. "_Giovanni wants me to go with him tomorrow to his Viridian Gym and test my power in battle._"

"_That's a shame…_" Mewtwo said before using PSYCHIC on its party Pokémon's respective Poké Balls. Three Poké Balls: a Dusk Ball (Duskull), a Premier Ball (Larvitar), and a Nest Ball (Shinx), each fired their red beams towards their respective Pokémon and assimilated them. Mewtwo set the three Poké Balls aside on the display table of Room 29-6 and then proceeded to its respective bed.

Lucario was left alone to notice the three Poké Balls besides the ones from his party of Pokémon. He couldn't help but notice at the differences in designs between the six of them, between Mewtwo's set of Poké Balls, as well as his own—Aqua's Net Ball, Terra's Quick Ball, and Wanderer's Great Ball.

However, once he yawned out of fatigue, he decided to look away.

"(I should be getting some sleep as well,)" Lucario thought, before heading to his respective bed.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 15): Training Room<span>

Date: October 15th, 2010 (10/15/10)

Time: 11:44 AM (16 Before Noon)

Within Floor 15 lies a room as large as a football field. It is utilized by Team Rocket Grunts to train Pokémon that show significant progress and reason enough for the criminal organization to allow them to live.

In this case, it is utilized to prevent three Pokémon from dying. Mewtwo, through its intended training, will attempt to save three innocent lives from dying.

That is of course, if Mewtwo doesn't _crush_ them first.

The three Pokémon—Duskull, Larvitar, and Shinx—trained since they first began at 0700 sharp (7:00 AM), and they were already showing signs of improvement after fighting against Mewtwo. However, against Mewtwo, who wasn't wearing its manufactured armor, proved to be hundreds of leagues _beyond_ their potential. The three Pokémon utilized teamwork, albeit to a basic degree, and Mewtwo consistently evaded and defended against each and every one of their attacks with ease.

Fatigue was setting in to each of the three Pokémon. Mewtwo, conserving energy with each move, wasn't even breathing heavily. This began to infuriate each of the three Pokémon, Shinx especially.

"Would it _kill_ you to hold still?" Mewtwo's Shinx roared in frustration.

Both Duskull and Larvitar decided to regain their energy, feeling fatigued beyond their potential. They observed Mewtwo and Shinx, deciding to see where this was going.

"_It would kill me to remain stagnant if I found myself submerged in quicksand._" Mewtwo answered Shinx's rhetorical question with a literal answer.

"You know that that's not what I meant!" Shinx was frustrated, and somehow capable of speaking while simultaneously hyperventilating.

"_The next time you speak then, try speaking with absolute logic in your words._"

Shinx grew increasingly angered at Mewtwo's commonsensical nature. This led to it charging towards Mewtwo at full speed. As it was doing so, the electricity that it was generating while running increased exponentially. The electricity increased to the point where it entirely consumed the Flash Pokémon, giving Shinx the emulative appearance of an earthbound comet, with a yellow electrical path behind its wake.

Through its rage, Shinx has learned VOLT TAKCLE, and was now utilizing it on Mewtwo.

Both Duskull and Larvitar watched on attentively, impressed at the display of Shinx's power.

"…" Mewtwo thought very little of this new attack and simply stared into what was behind the charged cloak that Shinx resided behind.

With a roar, Shinx jumped and struck Mewtwo's torso with VOLT TACKLE. The attack had enough force to have Shinx jump back about six feet after the initial impact, with VOLT TACKLE's energy quickly dissipating. Once the energy completely dissipated from Shinx, it saw the result of its attack.

Mewtwo didn't even flinch after sustaining damage from one of the most powerful Electric-Type attacks. The only signs that would have people—or Pokémon in this case—believe that Mewtwo had sustained damage would be the electric static residue emanating from Mewtwo's whole body. However, that electricity quickly dissipated across the environment, and Shinx's VOLT TACKLE only left a reddened mark on Mewtwo's pale-skinned torso, failing to even draw blood—or even a bruise.

The antithesis of Shinx's expectations was quickly made certain to it.

"(Unbelievable!)" Shinx thought with alarm. "(Not even a scratch? I hit with more force than I could—)"

All of a sudden, the recoil damage of Shinx's VOLT TACKLE attack began to influence it. In an instant, Shinx's eyes rolled up into its skull and closed, its legs collapsed under sudden fatigue, and it plopped onto the floor, mild amounts of blood seeping out from its mouth and nose. That same blood was seeping onto Shinx's lower jaw, staining it blood red.

Duskull and Larvitar, recovering moderately from their fatigue, hurried over to Shinx and examined it after it had fainted. They paid no attention to Mewtwo whatsoever, not even when it walked over to Shinx and kneeled down to its level. Both Pokémon observed in silence as Mewtwo placed its right paw on Shinx's forehead, reviving it with its proficient psychic power.

Once Mewtwo removed its paw from Shinx's forehead, the Flash Pokémon didn't bother to get back up immediately. With its pride broken as if it were glass, Shinx looked up with a poignant, tear-ridden and blood-stained countenance.

"H-How…" Shinx spoke feebly. "How did you sustain the attack without injury?"

"_I can state my reasons if you desire,_" Mewtwo spoke formally. "_Is it of your interest to listen to those reasons?_"

"Just cut the coherent crap and tell me," Shinx spoke exasperatedly.

"_The power that we both possess resides in completely different classes. And if I decided to juxtapose our powers to specific points on Earth, my power exceeds the height of Sinnoh's Mt. Coronet, while your power sinks deeper than the depths of Hoenn's Deep Sea Trench. The VOLT TACKLE technique that you acquired inflicted more damage onto my torso than you think. However, because of our immense differences in power, you sustained a substantial amount of recoil damage, and I simply did not succumb to the attack._"

"…" Shinx was at a loss of words.

"_Do you still have the energy to stand up on your four feet?_" Mewtwo spoke with concern, neglecting the concerned tone.

"…Yeah…" Shinx attempted to get back up, and it feebly got back up on its front paws, and then its rear paws. It stepped around its space for a bit to make sure that it was alright.

Mewtwo eyes a nearby clock inside of the Training Room. The hands of the clock signal 11:55 AM.

"_You all look exhausted. It would benefit you all if we choose to proceed over to the cafeteria on Floor 1. It's almost time for lunch and I can sense hunger inside of you all._"

A few seconds after Mewtwo sensed their hunger, the stomachs of each of the three Pokémon rumbled, begging for sustenance.

Mewtwo telekinetically retrieved the three Poké Balls that belonged to its party Pokémon and commanded them all to return to their respective Poké Balls in an instant. Mewtwo hovered over to the closest staircase, with the three Poké Balls orbiting around him as if they were satellites to the planets of the solar system.

"(There is considerable progress in their training. They have all learned new offensive techniques. Shinx in particular showed sufficient growth, having learned VOLT TACKLE, a technique that is normally out of its species' reach.)"

Mewtwo hovered down from between the gaps of the descending staircase, and couldn't help but be impressed at its party's progress. Its outer emotions didn't reflect this however. Only within its mind did it ponder at their growing strength.

"(Their chances of survival appear to be quite favorable.)"

* * *

><p><span>Location: Viridian City (Viridian Gym)<span>

Date: October 16th, 2010 (10/16/10)

Time: 3:13 PM

Lucario has been fighting inside of the Viridian Gym ever since he arrived in the morning after a day's worth of travel. Each fight proved to be unpredictable and in need of adaptation. However, in the end of each battle, Lucario always emerged victorious. His skills _alone_ proved to be overkill as he fought his opponents. The power boost that Lucario's equipped battle armor provided him was seldom necessary.

One of his battles of the day proved to be the easiest battle of his entire life.

Lucario battled against a Pokémon Trainer's Sneasel. The Pokémon Trainer ordered the Sneasel to utilize DOUBLE TEAM and surround Lucario with a band of its duplicates. Next, the Pokémon Trainer had the Sneasel utilize QUICK ATTACK, so that its clones disorient Lucario with their high speed.

Lucario simply stood his ground in the center of the revolving Sneasel and its duplicates. And underneath his visor, Lucario eyes were half-open, unimpressed and uninterested with the tactics of the Pokémon Trainer.

Once the Pokémon Trainer ordered the Sneasel to use SLASH on Lucario, the DOUBLE TEAM duplicates quickly dissipated into the air and the real Sneasel, from _behind_, jumped towards Lucario's head, claws erect, razor sharp, and waiting to make contact with Lucario's flesh.

Lucario simply tilted his head to the left, having the Sneasel pass over his right shoulder, and then he caught the Sneasel by the ankle with his right paw, never allowing it to land on the ground.

Before the Sneasel could claw at his face, Lucario quickly punched it in the face with a left jab MACH PUNCH and the Sneasel instantly went limp within his grasp. He then threw the unconscious Sneasel towards the Pokémon Trainer, whom simply looked surprised at how easily it was knocked out.

Another battle that Lucario had today decided to set himself up against a major type disadvantage. A Pokémon Trainer of a higher caliber commanded an Infernape, a Fighting-Type and Fire-Type Pokémon. This Pokémon Trainer, along with the Infernape, appeared to favor close combat, and had his Infernape use CLOSE COMBAT on Lucario.

The battle quickly had the Aura Pokémon resort to his Aura Vision ability, which allowed Lucario to evade each and every one of Infernape's punches, kicks, jabs, and hand swipes. They were all avoided through simple motions: ducking, side-stepping, blocking, and repulsing away with his arms.

Eventually, The Pokémon Trainer called his Infernape to backtrack about thirty feet, after CLOSE COMBAT proved to be a martial faux pas.

"Infernape, use FLAMETHROWER!" The Trainer ordered.

Upon hearing the command, The Trainer's Infernape began to puff up its chest, inhaling deeply and expanding its lungs. Once at full breath, the Trainer's Infernape lunged forward and quickly expelled all of the air in the form of a powerful jet of fire from its mouth, perfectly aimed towards Lucario.

"CALM MIND," Giovanni ordered Lucario to utilize.

Lucario head Giovanni's command and simply focused his mind significantly, clearing out all unneeded thoughts that don't relate to this battle. In doing so, his Special Attack and Special Defense increased.

Lucario, after using CALM MIND, stood his ground against the FLAMETHROWER attack. The attack struck him, enveloped him, concealed him, consumed him from vision, but _didn't harm_ him. Once the FLAMETHROWER dissipated, no signs of damage were apparent on Lucario's body, and Lucario casually put out any bits of fire that clung onto his fur by simply brushing it off.

Both the Infernape and the Pokémon Trainer were stunned at Lucario's unusual resistance to fire.

"BULK UP," Giovanni ordered once more.

Lucario's blood flow and heart rate increased, and swollen veins began to protrude from his skin. Those veins were visible along Lucario's face, where his fur was somewhat thinner. His muscle mass increased slightly, and his aura also spiked in power, leading to an aura field surrounding him, extending out twelve inches from his body. His Attack and Defense increased simultaneously.

"Attack with FLARE BLITZ!" The Pokémon Trainer ordered without hesitation.

The Pokémon Trainer's Infernape quickly increased the potency of the fire erupting from its head and utilized it to cloak its entire body with fire. Once surrounded by fire, it charged head-first towards Lucario.

"DIG," Giovanni ordered Lucario's next attack.

Lucario, as casual as can be, simply crossed his arms and watched Infernape charge towards him. His aura didn't increase in potency due to alarm, and his nerves didn't irritate from stress. Once Infernape closed in, Lucario simply raised his right canine-like foot into the air, and then stomped the ground with moderate force.

Due to the effects of BULK UP increasing his Attack power, he was somehow able to _shatter_ the earth beneath him, creating a gaping hole in the ground directly below his feet. He sunk into the earth, evading FLARE BLITZ, and further stunning his opponents.

The Infernape skidded to a stop after the FLARE BLITZ attack dissipated, serving to be as pointless as its preceding CLOSE COMBAT and FLAMETHROWER attacks did. All it could do was look at the earthbound hole that Lucario left behind, noticing the aura light that glowed within the darkness.

This quickly disappeared as Lucario dug within the earth, and instantly, Infernape was left scanning the battlefield in failure.

Lucario could faintly sense Infernape aura from below the vast layers of earth, thanks to his Aura Vision ability. He dug his way below the earth until he was directly below Infernape, and when the moment was right, Lucario jumped up and shattered the earth above him, having BULK UP provide him with the necessary power to do so.

Before any reaction could take place, Lucario quickly delivered an uppercut onto Infernape's face, knocking it off of its feet and sending it backward. Blood from Infernape's chin was present on Lucario's paw, but he paid no mind to it.

The Infernape, after landing on the ground on its back, recovered quickly from Lucario's uppercut. It quickly coiled its lower body inward and sprung forth forward, getting back up on its feet.

"Infernape, use MACH PUNCH!" its Pokémon Trainer ordered.

The arms of Infernape, from the tips of its fingers to its elbows, suddenly emanated white light and it charged towards Lucario once more.

"PSYCHO CUT!" Giovanni shouted.

Lucario formed his battle stance and awaited Infernape's approach. Once Infernape was about to strike Lucario with MACH PUNCH, he swatted one of Infernape's fists away with his left paw and caught its second fist with his right paw.

With Infernape in his grip, Lucario tugged on its arm and pulled it close. With his left knee, Lucario kneed Infernape's torso stalwartly, forcefully expelling the air out of its lungs. And with his free left paw, Lucario's entire aura—from the aura field that he generated earlier—migrated towards it and suddenly radiated an opaque purple color once unified.

Lucario swiped at Infernape's bruised torso and the aura that traveled across the path of Lucario's left paw formed a blade of psychic energy that left a bloody gash across the targeted area. The technique was super effective against a Fighting-Type Pokémon, since it was a Psychic-Type technique.

The Trainer's Infernape fell to the floor and onto its back, unable to fight any further. Lucario, knowing that the Trainer would call it back into its Poké Ball, observed the damage it endured from his assault.

The Infernape had a bloody chin and a significant gash that stretched across its torso. Both of those physical injuries would recover without difficulty. However, its _emotional_ injuries might take longer to recover, especially since Lucario sustained no apparent damage and easily countered and withstood its attacks through unexpected methods.

The Pokémon Trainer quickly returned the Infernape into its Poké Ball, and then ran off towards the Pokémon Center, concerned for the health of the loser of this battle.

Lucario stood motionless and deep in thought. He recalled the FLARE BLITZ attack that the Infernape utilized and juxtaposed it to the FLARE BLITZ attack that Absol utilized long ago. He concluded that, based upon visual appearance, Absol's FLARE BLITZ attack was stronger, despite it not matching up with its Dark-Type attribute.

"(If that Absol was still alive, it wouldn't stand a chance against me,)" Lucario thought.

Once Lucario finished recalling past events, he awaited his next opponent.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Fuchsia City (Safari Zone)<span>

Date: October 23rd, 2010 (10/23/10)

Time: 2:44 PM

Mewtwo, on another day of work, ventured to Fuchsia City's famous Safari Zone, along with two dozen Team Rocket Grunts. They disembarked from the cargo helicopter that allowed them to reach the Safari Zone.

Across the vast plains that appeared eerily similar to an African savannah, a herd of a few dozen Tauros ran in tandem across the wide open field. Already, Team Rocket was beginning to assemble closer to them, prepped to capture them all.

Mewtwo and the Grunts stood atop of a cliff and eyed the oncoming Tauros herd. In an instant, Mewtwo used PSYCHIC and had each and every Tauros hover nearby them, discombobulated, helpless and vulnerable. They were captured with ease by every Grunt behind Mewtwo, as Mewtwo telekinetically subdued them.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 2): Library<span>

Date: October 26th, 2010 (10/26/10)

Time: 5:17 PM

Lucario decides to spend a day off of Team Rocket work by learning about the world through books from the library of Team Rocket Main Headquarters. One of the books that he's reading involves the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town. It's titled "_The End Point of Pokémon_".

The book explains Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower, and what resides within it, as well as what it's utilized for. The Pokémon Tower, as the book explains it, exists as a gravesite for deceased Pokémon. Pokémon of all type attributes, habitats, owners, or experience, are all treated with the same respect once they die. They are all given two paths in their final destination, cremation or coffin burial. As the book explains to Lucario, the largest Pokémon receive the cremation, so as to minimize the use of space.

On a side note, "_The End Point of Pokémon_" also explains a rumor of Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower. Allegedly, a Pokémon has been visiting the tower on a regular basis, eyeing new gravesites for recently deceased Pokémon. It is unknown what it does or why it decides to visit the Pokémon Tower. The only thing that is known about this Pokémon is that it's prone to disappear instantly once it is spotted. Vague eyewitness reports state that this Pokémon is a quadruped, and conceals its face with a black bandana.

As Lucario buried his mind deeper within the book, his constitution grew more depressed. He closed the book and placed it back in its original location, reluctant in reading further.

He began to ponder over what he read and how it connects to him. "(What happens to the Pokémon that die from Team Rocket's actions?)" Lucario thought, but quickly realized that they don't receive the respect that they deserve once they die. "(They probably help fill a crater somewhere…)"

With that done, he leaves the library and goes to the cafeteria on Floor 1 for dinner. As he climbs down the stairs, he can't help not think about his fallen loved ones. He can't help but mentally recall his days back home, with Sceptile, Tiny, and Wanderer, how they lived together in their old tree house. He also can't shrug off Team Rocket's malicious actions, and what they did to Sceptile and Tiny.

"_I miss them so much…_" Lucario mourned over the hole in his heart, once inhabited by the Pokémon now lost.

* * *

><p><em><span>10.1: Two Months Later<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6

Date: December 14th, 2010 (12/14/10)

Time: 9:41 PM (Night)

Two months have passed—along with four more days since Lucario and Wanderer joined Team Rocket—since Duskull, Larvitar, and Shinx have joined Mewtwo's party. Since then, they have clearly emerged from their shells and have made themselves comfortable with their surroundings.

Their personalities have also been made clear.

Duskull is apparently sagacious and quick to point out details in its surroundings. It is deeply respectful and noble to anyone, even its enemies, and appears to lack anger. It attacks through hit-and-run tactics—or in its case, hit-and-_vanish_ tactics—and favors stealth when fighting an opponent. It can be relied on for stealth, status infliction, and gathering intelligence, as well as endurance in battle. Its main weakness is its speed, which is overcome through evasive Ghost-Type techniques. Finally, it is also capable of telepathy since it has no mouth, just like Lucario, Mewtwo, and Wanderer.

Larvitar is a rather aggressive Pokémon, both in and out of battle. It's a vulgar and supremacist Pokémon that's difficult to work with, because it can quickly contaminate anyone's disposition—except for Mewtwo's, whom never seems to lose its serenity. It's a powerful Pokémon in combat and welcomes opposing odds, such as many-on-one combat. However, deep within its heart, it _is_ a kindhearted Pokémon, if its harsh exterior is disregarded. The quickest way to do so is for an ally or friend to overwhelm its stalwart power with greater power, which might be difficult because Larvitar possesses incredible power and has a surprising resilience to anything else, making it quite difficult to defeat.

Shinx is a Pokémon that can be properly juxtaposed to a lion. It is heavily prideful, courageous, and persistent. It'll fight any opponent that it encounters, as long as it's confident in its ability to defeat its opponent. It enjoys one-on-one combat and prefers the lone hero approach. It favors consistently relentless offense and stunning simultaneous paralysis when fighting opponents. It deeply hates opponents that it can't defeat—such as Mewtwo—and its pride can take multiple beatings before shattering. Once its pride shatters, its battle potential collapses.

Two months have proven favorable to the three Pokémon. Mewtwo's party Pokémon, through rigorous training, has successfully evolved into three new Pokémon: Dusclops, Luxio, and Pupitar.

_**(National Pokédex entry #356: Dusclops, the Beckon Pokémon. It is a Ghost-Type Pokémon that measures in at 5' 03" and weighs approximately 67.5 lbs. It seeks drifting will-o'-the-wisps and sucks them into its empty body. What happens inside is a mystery. It's likely that they simply fill in its inner body, but what do I know.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #404: Luxio, the Spark Pokémon. It is an Electric-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 11" and weighs 67.2 lbs. on average. Strong electricity courses through the tips of its sharp claws. A light scratch causes fainting in foes. Of course, it's likely that this only works on weaker foes.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #247: Pupitar, the Hard Shell Pokémon. It is a Rock-Type and Ground Type Pokémon that measures 3' 11" and is 335.1 lbs in weight. Its body is as hard as bedrock. By venting pressurized gas, it can launch itself like a rocket. It sucks to be the victim(s) in its path of rampage.)**_

Every Pokémon—Aqua (Lapras), Dusclops, Luxio, Mewtwo, Pupitar, Terra (Garchomp), Wanderer (Lucario), and Xeno (Lucario)—was inside of Room 29-6, together to welcome Dusclops, Luxio and Pupitar into Team Liberator.

"Do you swear to never tell of our organization to any human, no matter how dire the situation becomes or how severe your life is jeopardized in a critical situation?" Aqua began the oath.

"I do," Dusclops, Luxio, and Pupitar responded in unison.

"Do you promise to rescue as many Pokémon as possible, once the time comes to make our escape?" Terra continued the oath.

"I do."

"_And do you swear to make as many Rocket Grunts feel our power as possible, once we make our escape?_" Wanderer ended the oath.

"I do," Dusclops, Luxio, and Pupitar responded in unison for the final time.

"_Then Dusclops, Luxio, and Pupitar…_" Lucario said once the oath ended. He smiled and opened his arms briefly. "…_Welcome to Team Liberator._"

The three new Team Liberator recruits bowed down in respect, all except Pupitar, whom did a rude pelvic (?) lunge. The action was disregarded, as the Pokémon surrounding it were used to this behavior.

Mewtwo stepped in, holding each of their respective Poké Balls and said "_Time to rest. Tomorrow we wake up at 0700 and resume training._"

Dusclops, Luxio, and Pupitar nodded before Mewtwo returned them back into their respective Poké Balls. Mewtwo faced Lucario and its party Pokémon, whom were returned back into their respective Poké Balls as well. All six Poké Balls were telekinetically placed back on the display table.

"_Your Pokémon have improved significantly,_" Lucario complemented Mewtwo. "_You've clearly dedicated more of your time to them than I have to my Pokémon._"

"_Your Pokémon are already stalwart and experienced. Training them currently is redundant, albeit recommended,_" Mewtwo stated with its soulless facial expression. "_All three of my party Pokémon is safe from death. Now, they must have their power further sharpened._"

"_That's good to hear, especially since I've not neglected my training with my party Pokémon,_" Lucario smirked briefly.

"_Will you and your Pokémon be able to join in our training session tomorrow?_"

"This _time, yes we will._"

"_Alright then,_" Mewtwo concluded before proceeding to his bed.

"_Hold on Mewtwo, I wanted to ask you a question,_" Lucario stopped it from proceeding. "_Do you think that Team Liberator oath sounded formal?_"

"…" Mewtwo spend seconds thinking over the oath that Lucario and his party Pokémon spoke to its party Pokémon. "_With all the honesty that I possess, I can infer you that I lack interest in such a petty pledge. What matters considerably more is what plan you need to ponder in order to successfully escape._"

"_I see,_" Lucario said plainly.

"_After all, actions far exceed the power of words._"

_"Don't you mean, 'Actions speak louder than words'?"_ Lucario wondered.

Mewtwo simply shook its head. "_Actions don't speak. That is illogical._"

Lucario smirked at this response. "_Oh, silly me… I forgot that you take the English language literally._"

With their conversation done, they proceeded to their respective beds.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6<span>

Date: December 15th, 2010 (12/15/10)

Time: 6:31 PM (Evening)

Mewtwo, after the rigorous training session, decided to eat in its room. It resided solitarily in Room 29-6, while every other Pokémon continued to train under Lucario's supervision.

Mewtwo always nibbled minuscule amounts of food, and seems to suffice with an average of 1250 calories daily. For dinner, it only desired a bowl of soup, with fragments of broccoli and Lum Berries. It was heated to human body temperature using psychic proficiency, and consumed delicately with a spoon.

The soup bowl was eventually left as empty as the moment before it contained soup.

Mewtwo placed the bowl and utilized utensils into the dishwasher with PSYCHIC. Before standing up from its respective chair, it eyed the kitchen utensils placed adjacent of it across the table. On a napkin, three eating utensils—a fork, a knife, and a spoon—were neatly and properly tucked within it, like children sleeping in their bed. Mewtwo extended an arm over to obtain them and ogled them sagaciously when they were in its globular hands.

"(A fork, a knife, and a spoon…)" The Genetic Pokémon pondered briefly.

Mewtwo placed the kitchen utensils aside and in their proper place before excusing itself from the table. It proceeded over to its room and retrieved one of the borrowed library books from the table beside its bed. Mewtwo relaxed on its plush and lovely bed before opening the book, flipping through the pages—non-telekinetically—to resume its previous point.

The book Mewtwo was reading is a popular science fiction novel, titled "_Ender's Game_", and written by Orson Scott Card. "_Ender's Game_" is a personal favorite of Mewtwo, whom has read the book frequently a few days ago.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6<span>

Date: December 22th, 2010 (12/22/10)

Time: 7:12 PM (Evening)

One week has passed by with moderate activity. Lucario and Mewtwo both had days off of work from Team Rocket. During this day off, they decided to have another training session with _everyone_ participating in it.

Aqua and Mewtwo left early from the training session, both with different reasons. Aqua left due to fatigue and Mewtwo left due to boredom. They decided to return to their room, where Aqua decided to pass the time by playing chess with Mewtwo, whom was reading "_Ender's Game_" for the umpteenth time simultaneously.

Both players moved the pieces using PSYCHIC, albeit their telekinetic abilities were clearly discrete. Simply put, Mewtwo's telekinetic abilities were free of pause and streamlined, while Aqua's telekinetic abilities seemed amateurish and jittery.

They played dozens of times, with each round lasting only a few minutes at the most. Aqua was ubiquitously focused on the game, while Mewtwo never looked at the board during matches, eyeing its work of science fiction instead.

Each and every chess match was unanimously victorious by Mewtwo, whom always left Aqua with the white king piece remaining introverted, while Mewtwo would declare checkmate with up to _twelve_ of its black pieces remaining.

"_Checkmate, for the thirtieth time subsequently,_" Mewtwo said while flipping through a fresh new page in its book, never letting its scrolling pale green eyes digress from the words.

Aqua, losing for the thirtieth time subsequently, was a poor sport. It coiled its right flipper inward to its left side before swatting away the entire chess set, board and 32 black/white pieces off of the table with a mighty swing, before slamming its forehead onto the table, having it stick there as if manufactured with Velcro.

Aqua remained in this position as long as it continued to feel great disappointment. It came close to using the FAKE TEARS technique out of accumulative sadness, despite the fact that it didn't know how to use it.

Out of mild pity, Mewtwo said "_Don't hate the player, Aqua. Hate the game._" Afterwards, it used PSYCHIC to collect the chess board and its 32 chess pieces.

Once Aqua lifted its head up from the table, Mewtwo returned the chessboard and chess pieces back onto their original places, as if they never played to begin with. All of this was done without Mewtwo averting its eyes from the book.

Aqua was annoyed enough by Mewtwo's apparent lack of interest and finally had the nerve to say "What are you reading, Mewtwo?" in curiosity.

Mewtwo, upon hearing the question, closed its book and looked at Aqua. "_The title of this science-fiction novel is '_Ender's Game_'. It's a story explaining the life of a human child who goes by the name of Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin. Ender's intellectual talent is recognized by humanity, and they use his talent to defeat a hostile alien race—known as 'Formics' to humanity, but are deliberately downplayed as 'Buggers'—by first training the child through computerized battle simulations._" Mewtwo returned to reading its novel. "_There are multiple books in the series. Once I read the entire book a few more times, I'll read the sequel to this book. They interest me deeply._"

"Alright then," Aqua said, once informed.

Before it could ask another question, Mewtwo spoke once more.

"_Humanity… All they know is to assimilate their surroundings and utilize it for their benefit. They will even resort to using one of their own as tools, as long as they are satisfied with their actions, regardless of the consequences,_" Mewtwo spoke to itself with an irritated telepathic voice.

All of a sudden, the chess pieces began to vibrate spontaneously. The pieces rattled in place, due to Mewtwo's stalwart telekinetic abilities. Aqua noticed this and grew mildly uncomfortable, since it suspected this was occurring due to Mewtwo's emotions reflected through its tone of voice.

"_I _hate_ them for that,_" Mewtwo said before eventually settling down.

The chess pieces stopped vibrating after a few seconds once Mewtwo calmed down. Aqua relaxed after a minute of this phenomenon, and once at ease, it thought of the other six Pokémon and what they were doing presently.

"(I wonder how training is going with Lucario…)" Aqua pondered.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 15): Training Room<span>

Date: December 22nd, 2010 (12/22/10)

Time: 7:16 PM (Evening)

Each of the six Pokémon is sparring one-on-one with each other within the Training Room in Floor 15. Lucario is sparring with Pupitar, Terra is sparring with Luxio, and Wanderer is sparring with Dusclops.

Against Terra, Luxio constantly trained its Electric-Type attacks on it, improving its power as the training continues. Since Terra is a Ground-Type Pokémon, Electric-Type techniques don't harm it, allowing Luxio to unleash its full power without restraint of attacking a fellow comrade.

Against Dusclops, Wanderer improved on its ability to use Fighting-Type attacks on Ghost-Type Pokémon—whom are normally unaffected by Fighting-Type and Normal-Type attacks. Wanderer learned recently that if you use FORESIGHT—or Aura Vision as Lucario and Wanderer have named it—on a Ghost-Type Pokémon, both Fighting-Type and Normal-Type attacks will influence Ghost-Type Pokémon. Wanderer used consecutive Fighting-Type attacks against Dusclops—such as AURA SPHERE, CLOSE COMBAT, MACH PUNCH, FORCE PALM, et cetera—throughout their training.

Against Lucario, Pupitar constantly tried to ram him with its steel hard carapace. Lucario evaded each attack with aplomb. He eventually moved from evasion to offense and utilized LEAF BLADE on Pupitar, a Grass-Type attack that would prove problematic for the Hard Shell Pokémon in terms of type attribute. Since Lucario was much more skilled in combat, he slashed at Pupitar frequently with LEAF BLADE, creating thin scratches on Pupitar's durable carapace, and evaded each and every one of Pupitar's attacks.

Pupitar's carapace, despite the numerous scratches it has sustained, was _designed_ to be resilient to virtually anything, and would show no signs of Lucario's LEAF BLADE attacks after a few days, once the topmost layer has molted away due to Pupitar's intrinsic Shed Skin ability.

"Hold still, dammit!" Pupitar constantly tried to use TAKE DOWN on Lucario, whom evaded each attack with ease.

Lucario, with the aerial proficiency of an acrobat, constantly jumped, flipped, somersaulted, and side-stepped against each of Pupitar's attempted tackles. Each evasion proved successful, despite the fact that Lucario wasn't using his Aura Vision ability to anticipate Pupitar's movements—especially since they were rather straightforward.

Half of the evasions left Lucario able to directly attack Pupitar with LEAF BLADE. In one case, Lucario was able to plant one LEAF BLADE onto the ground, balance on it in the form of a handstand, and deliver a downward aerial sweep at Pupitar with the other LEAF BLADE.

Pupitar grew consistently frustrated and knew that this training battle was gradually growing into Lucario's favor. "That's it, to hell with this shit!" It spat out expletively before hovering high into the air and falling back onto the floor. The end result was Pupitar burying itself into the floor, resulting in an EARTHQUAKE that simultaneously stunned and forced Lucario to remain stationary, for concern of falling over if he so much as took a step.

Quickly, Pupitar returned to the surface, eyed Lucario vindictively, and suddenly began to generate a spherical typhoon of power revolving all around itself. This sudden power revolved similarly to a barrel when it rolls down a hill, and the power is most concentrated directly in front of the Hard Shell Pokémon. Using the Pokémon technique GIGA IMPACT, Pupitar homed in towards Lucario with blinding speed and rampaging power.

Still stunned from EARTHQUAKE, Lucario had difficulty reacting to Pupitar's GIGA IMPACT attack. When Lucario finally regained his basic normality and noticed Pupitar stampeding towards him, it was already too late.

Pupitar impacted Lucario with GIGA IMPACT, directly onto his stomach, and launched Lucario approximately 200 feet away. He would've flown farther backwards, were it not for the reinforced wall catching him. He left a self-made crater onto the wall before falling onto the ground, chest-spike down. The initial impact onto his stomach caused blood to run out of his mouth, which formed a small puddle in front of Lucario's face.

Pupitar, despite not being able to move briefly after using GIGA IMPACT, was taunting victoriously at Lucario. "Ha hah! Look whose down for the count! Look at yourself! You're bleeding out of your mouth! I'll bet that hurt like _hell_, huh!"

Lucario, despite the overall force that he sustained from Pupitar's GIGA IMPACT attack, quickly showed signs of durability. He got back on all two of his padded feet, and wiped off the blood from his mouth. He spat out the blood-saliva mixture nearby the bloodstain already on the floor, and felt the pain in his stomach slowly disappearing, albeit lingering there in the form of a dull ache.

Not caring about Pupitar's involuntary taunting, he said "_You're right, it _did_ hurt,_" once he eyed the Hard Shell Pokémon. "_However, I don't exist today because of feeble battle skills. I exist because of hard work and determination, the drive to move forward and grow stronger with each and every passing day._"

"Spoken like a true try-hard," Pupitar said smugly.

* * *

><p><em><span>10.2: Four Months Later<span>_

Location: Viridian City (Viridian Gym)

Date: February 14th, 2011 (02/14/11)

Time: 4:22 PM

Lucario returned to Viridian Gym under Giovanni's orders, in order to further test his growing power and progress. As expected, he faced off against numerous opponents, each of varying strengths and abilities, Lucario only used a fraction of his power to defeat each opponent.

His last opponent of the day utilized a Sceptile—of all possible Pokémon. Lucario, despite recalling the Sceptile he knew back at his forest home, showed no mercy.

The Trainer's Sceptile's final attack was SEED BOMB, where it literally utilized the seed-like nodules on its back as explosive grenades. Plucking them off of its back, it jumped high into the air and threw them towards Lucario, where they detonated upon impact with either Lucario or the ground surrounding him. The end result created a combustive explosion that engulfed Lucario, as well as the air around him, in a fireball.

The Pokémon Trainer, along with his Sceptile once it landed, prepared to cheer at a victory when Lucario didn't expose himself from the fire after a few seconds.

That is, until Giovanni gave him a command.

"POISON JAB," Giovanni said and snapped his fingers simultaneously.

Lucario's eyes suddenly glimmered gold and became visible from within the fire, a strong sign that he was still able to attack—as well as utilize his Aura Vision ability. Before the trainer and Sceptile could react, Lucario burst out of the fire and approached Sceptile, with his left paw emanating a nauseating purple aura, and the remainder of his body leaving a brief trail for the fire to follow before dissipating.

Lucario punched Sceptile with POISON JAB, square in the center of its sternum. The Pokémon Trainer's Sceptile quickly felt the side effects of POISON JAB—poison—and, along with the _critically_ super-effective attack, toppled onto the floor, hemorrhaging considerably from its mouth and twitching from the fast-acting effects of poison.

Defeated, the trainer's Sceptile was withdrawn back into its Poké Ball, and rushed to the local Pokémon Center for recovery.

Lucario was left on the battlefield once again, only this time, he recalled the Sceptile he knew before being captured by Team Rocket. This past memory connected to Tiny, and their simultaneous demise, where their tree house was burned to the ground and then they were targeted by explosive gaseous Pokémon.

"(Of all of the Pokémon on this planet,)" Lucario thought motionlessly. "(I fight against the one that perished prior to my capture.)"

Lucario looked down onto the ground and then let a few tears escape from him and descend onto the floor below.

"(If only they were still alive…)" he sobbed silently, muting himself so that Giovanni suspected nothing of this behavior.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters: Floor B5 (Crematorium)<span>

Date: February 18th, 2011 (02/18/11)

Time: 2:31 PM

Both Lucario and Mewtwo, under orders from Giovanni, proceeded over to the lowest floor of Team Rocket Main Headquarters. Both of them were unsure as to what Giovanni needed them for, or what resides on the lowest floor of Team Rocket Main Headquarters. The only hint that they received from Giovanni was a vague telephone call:

"I need you both at Floor B5, ASAP. I have a task for you two to perform."

Lucario and Mewtwo, upon exiting the basement stairway, stopped upon reaching a metal-reinforced door, similar to those seen on submarines.

"_What do you think Giovanni wants from us this time?_" Lucario asked Mewtwo before he gripped the door handle.

The Genetic Pokémon, with crossed arms and a serious visage, hypothesized. "_Based on the designs of this enigmatic room, as well as the personality of our boss, something malicious…_"

With grim thoughts, Lucario swallowed once before opening the metallic door. The door creaked open loudly, cracking off coagulated faint red rust from the inner door hinges, and both the Aura Pokémon and the Genetic Pokémon entered the room. Instantly, they both realized Giovanni's presence within the room, and before he noticed their entrance, both Pokémon observed the room.

To begin with, all six sides of the room—the four walls, ceiling, and floor—were metallic and rusted red in specific places. The room had a nauseating scent of smoldering remains, likely emanating from the burn marks on the walls. If closely observed, signs of sanguine stains were present on the walls as well, which blended in to the rust that the stains were located in. Lighting was difficult to pinpoint, albeit present due to the dim red atmosphere that the room had. Finally, there were signs of vents all along the room, due to the tightly-closed metallic panels that they resided behind.

It took Lucario and Mewtwo seconds to realize that this room was a crematorium. They were both unsure of what Giovanni had in mind for them, and reading his mind failed to foretell them of Giovanni's intentions, because Giovanni wasn't thinking about that presently.

"Welcome to the lowest floor in my HQ: the Crematorium," Giovanni's voice echoed all across the metallic room. "I called you both over here to ask a favor."

Before the Pokémon's eyes, Giovanni pulled out from his suit pockets Poké Balls, up to a dozen of them, and held them above his head, where they opened and released each Pokémon within them, in a _blue_-colored energy instead of the nostalgic red-colored energy.

Both Pokémon noticed this, and only Mewtwo thought otherwise to the blue energy, seeing it for the first time. Lucario, recalling Giovanni's Poké Ball explanation from a few months ago, knew what the blue energy related to, and questioned Giovanni's reasoning.

"(What are you up to?)" Lucario thought in a digressed manner.

The Poké Balls returned to Giovanni's pockets once they were empty. The Pokémon rematerialized, and their identities were known to Lucario and Mewtwo. To their surprise, the identified Pokémon were some of the most _common_ Pokémon species possible.

"We have a small shortage of Poké Balls and I need you both to dispose of these Pokémon through any possible methods," Giovanni smiled before stepping aside.

"_You want us both to _kill_ them?_" Lucario spoke with concealed astonishment.

"…" Mewtwo eyed the Pokémon, having difficulty sensing the potential of these Pokémon, primarily because there was little to nothing to sense about them.

Giovanni nodded, never discarding the antagonistic smile he had on his face.

The realization of Giovanni's unyielding composure caused Lucario to become uneasy and anxious. The thought of killing an opponent was nothing unfamiliar to him—if you recall his fight with Absol, sixteen assorted Fire-Type Pokémon, and Giovanni's Machamp. The fact that he had to kill _without_ a sufficient and logical reason, it began to strangle Lucario's heart by his arteries.

Mewtwo, on the other hand, seemed to remain as calm as ever. An faint _smile_ seemed to surface on its lips, a sign that it _didn't hate_ Giovanni's order.

"Make it quick, there's more Pokémon to dispose of," Giovanni told them.

Both Pokémon, with different moral ethics, followed Giovanni's orders and killed the released Pokémon with heartless brutality. Lucario would mutilate their bodies with the use of bladed Pokémon techniques, such as METAL CLAW, LEAF BLADE, and SWORDS DANCE. Mewtwo would use less physical effort and just pop their heads open with PSYCHIC.

Both methods were unsanitary and quickly filled the surrounding air with the scent of blood. Both Pokémon would get the slain Pokémon's blood on them, but Lucario had more on him, since he decided to fight at close-range. Mewtwo would simply wipe off the blood with ease, due to a lack of fur. Lucario would have greater difficulty removing the scattered blood from his body, due to his fur.

Once all of the murder ended, Giovanni said "Alright then, here's the next batch" before releasing another dozen Pokémon, similar to the Pokémon that were already killed.

"(Oh crap…)" Lucario thought to himself. "(I won't sleep well tonight…)"

"(Just keep them coming. I'll pop their heads open and paint the room with their blood,)" Mewtwo thought with little facial expression, but _much_ personality.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters: Floor 20 (Firing Range Room)<span>

Date: February 18th, 2011 (02/18/11)

Time: 6:52 PM

Lucario, once finished with Giovanni's odious task, quickly went back to his room to take a shower to wash off the excess blood that clung onto his fur, leaving behind a bloody trail in the process.

With the shower, he hoped that not only the blood would trickle away, but the rooted bitter compunction as well. Unfortunately, that didn't happen as he hoped. Instead, he decided to attempt to forget his actions by firing guns and rifles inside Floor 20's Firing Range Room.

Lucario spend countless times inside this room in the past few months during some of his free time. His interest in guns transcended over to proficiency in this weaponry. The targets that he would fire at would immediately have their centers pierced. The fact that Lucario visualized the targets as people he despises—Team Rocket Grunts—helped him concentrate on his aim.

However, it proved to be a distraction today.

"Hey! Watch it!" A Grunt said as he was in the middle of changing the targets. "You almost blew my head off, you damn dirty Pokémon!"

Lucario, snapping out of his concentration, realized that he almost shot a _live_ Grunt. The solitary bullet that he fired just skimmed the top of the black beret that the Grunt was wearing.

If Lucario wasn't in Team Rocket, he could have gotten away with killing a human being—if you recall the Grunts he killed back at his forest home. However, because he was _officially_ in Team Rocket and therefore a Grunt _himself_, he can't get away with murder as easily as before, when he was considered "wild" and didn't live underneath human laws.

"_Uh…_" Lucario was still readjusting himself to reality. "_…My bad…?_" He said before putting the gun down.

"…" The Grunt just returned to changing the targets with a fresh set of new targets. "(*Sigh*) (They don't pay me enough to work with these Pokémon.)"

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters: Floor 29 (Room 29-6)<span>

Date: February 19th, 2011 (02/19/11)

Time: 12:01 AM (Midnight)

Within Room 29-6, chaos erupted in the form of furniture with nonexistent wings. The Pokémon within the room either ran to safety within the bedroom, or attempted to prevent future damage to the furniture. The cause of all of this came from Lucario…

…After he drowned his sorrow with a few bottles of alcohol.

"_Yo ya no puedo trabajar con estos condiciones!_" Lucario spoke _not_ with drowned grammar, but in a completely different language. [I can't work under these conditions!] He threw the television set at the wall, where it shattered on contact, sparking once before dying in a heap of glass and electrical circuitry.

All of the Pokémon finally found themselves within Mewtwo's room, simply waiting it out until Lucario either passes out from the effects of the alcohol or finally calms down.

Once they heard the windows shatter, they knew that this was no longer a matter from which they should wait until it passes. They stepped out of their safety room _cautiously_ at first, and noticed that Lucario threw a chair towards another window.

Lucario stepped dangerously close to the shattered window. The strong chilling wind gusts didn't appear to bother him as he looked down to the ground floor. The furniture he threw outside couldn't be seen under the blanket of darkness that is the night. He appeared to be losing his balance and was wobbling all over the place.

It was only a matter of time until he fell out of the shattered window.

"What is it doing?" Terra said, confused of Lucario's behavior.

"_I can tell you what it's _not_ doing,_" Dusclops replied. "_Lucario isn't attempting suicide. Despite being under the influence of alcohol—and inadvertently speaking Spanish, of all things—, it wouldn't think of suicide. Lucario has enough responsibility as it is, and more than enough in life to live for._"

"_What if Lucario falls over _accidentally?" Wanderer questioned.

"_I won't allow it,_" Mewtwo responded, never letting its eyes trail off of the drunken Pokémon. "_I'll simply apprehend Lucario with my telekinetic abilities._"

Lucario, after a physical vendetta with his own balance, finally approached the window. As he was about to fall over—as everybody expected—, Mewtwo quickly subdued him with its psychic abilities. And with the gentleness of a feather, the Genetic Pokémon carried Lucario over to the kitchen table, and sat him down on one of the remaining chairs.

The Genetic Pokémon dissipated its psychic control on Lucario and then approached him. "_Suffocating you sorrow with alcoholic beverages won't remove the fact that you work under Team Rocket and follow their rules,_" It said sagaciously.

"…" Lucario, feeling mentally distant with his surroundings due to the alcoholic effects on his brain, simply nodded, almost hitting his head on the kitchen table in the process. "_Yo tuve que matar Pokémon hoy, sin razón o propósito…_" Lucario bubbled. [I had to kill Pokémon today, without reason or purpose…] "_Tomé alcohol para calmar my dolor emocional…_" [I drank alcohol to help me calm my emotional pain…]

"_There would be nothing to drown if you had emotions so shallow that they're impossible to submerge and suffocate,_" Mewtwo said.

"…" Lucario tilted his head and looked at Mewtwo with uncooperative eyes, confused and just barely attentive.

"_It's not something that you, or anyone, would understand in detail. So to put it simply, my emotions hold little to no control over my moral ethics. I don't _feel_ emotions compared to other people _or_ Pokémon. The scientists who created me seemed to consider that specific detail. I was created simply as a Pokémon weapon of war, with unquenchable bloodlust, and no desire to feel over my actions._" Mewtwo looked down as it said what was on its mind.

"…" Everyone was silent upon hearing Mewtwo's powerful soliloquy.

Mewtwo looked back up and at everyone, "_While we're all awake, we might as well clean up Lucario's mess now rather than never._"

Everyone agreed with Mewtwo's choice of action,

Except for Lucario, who quickly vomited on the kitchen table and then plopped his head on the stomach puddle he just made, passed out from the predictable side effects of the alcohol he just consumed.

"_Such an atrocity…_" Mewtwo muttered, wrinkling its forehead to the best of its ability, with what little flexibility it had with its facial muscles.

* * *

><p><em><span>10.3: Six Months Later<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters: Floor 29 (Room 29-6)

Date: April 14th, 2011 (04/14/11)

Time: 3:48 PM

Through hard work, recoverable injury, and rigorous training, Mewtwo's party of Pokémon have _almost_ fully evolved. As of this moment, Mewtwo's Pokémon party currently consists of Dusclops, Luxray, and Tyranitar.

Mewtwo's Dusclops has yet to evolve, for reasons unknown.

_**(National Pokédex entry #405: Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokémon. It is an Electric-Type Pokémon that measures 4' 07" in height and 92.6 lbs. in weight. It can see clearly through walls to track down its prey and seek its lost young. The X-Ray in "Luxray" should strongly hint at this ability.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #248: Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon. It is a Dark-Type and Rock-Type Pokémon that measures 6' 07" in height and a heavy 445.3 lbs. in weight. If it rampages, it knocks down mountains and buries rivers. Maps must be redrawn afterward. I'll bet it's frustrating to be a mapmaker with this Pokémon existing.)**_

All eight Pokémon within Room 29-6 ponder endlessly as to why Dusclops hasn't evolved yet.

"_If anyone has the answers as to why I haven't evolved yet, Mewtwo has them,_" Dusclops speculated.

Mewtwo, with crossed arms and a tilted countenance, briefly closed its eyes and shook its head. "_As oceanic as my wisdom is, I don't possess the answers to your current impasse,_" It said solemnly.

"Has that 'oceanic wisdom' of yours suffered an unexpected drought?" Tyranitar teased the Genetic Pokémon with a voice that resonated with the walls.

Mewtwo fully understands, as well as anyone else within the Room, that Tyranitar's attitude is entirely rooted to its species' nature, and that the Armor Pokémon can't help itself in stereotyping its species. They all simply learn to tolerate it, and Tyranitar knows that fact proficiently.

"_No,_" Mewtwo continued, undaunted by one of its three fellow teammates. "_The fact that I don't know why Dusclops hasn't evolved is simply one of many topics that I have yet to assimilate into my memory._"

"I'll bet someone has to take a piss in that 'oceanic wisdom' of yours so that you can learn that topic.)" Tyranitar mocked rather loudly, as if by instinct.

"Well then," Luxray inserted itself into the conversation. "Do you think it's trained less compared to Tyranitar and me?"

"_Highly doubtful,_" Wanderer spoke to the Gleam Eyes Pokémon. "_I can speak truthfully when I say that you three…_" The light-furred Aura Pokémon pointed its fingers briefly at Mewtwo's party Pokémon, "_…have _literally_ trained your asses off under Mewtwo's leadership._"

"_So what do we do about my predicament?_" Dusclops wondered.

Aqua's light bulb of ideas emanated within its mind. "Perhaps we should ask someone for help?" It requested sincerely.

"Who should we ask then?" Terra spoke quickly after.

"(*Sigh*) _I know who to ask,_" Lucario's words stabbed at his mind like Beedrills to intruders when he spoke.

Those same metaphorical Beedrills stung his steel-hard body when he decided to leave his room and ask the one person who knows how to make a Dusclops evolve. However, like Poison-Type attacks inflicted to Steel-Type Pokémon, he was immune to this and simply had to muzzle his hate, having successfully done so now for the last six months and four days.

The Pokémon seeing him leave had a good idea who Lucario was referring to.

"Well Mewtwo, now we know _whose_ piss is going into your 'oceanic wisdom'." Tyranitar vilified once more.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 30Roof Floor): Registration Room

Date: April 14th, 2011 (04/14/11)

Time: 4:00 PM

"So, what exactly do you need my help with at this moment?" Giovanni said, sitting down on his office chair.

"_I need to know what makes a Dusclops evolve,_" Lucario asked, reluctant for his help but requiring it nevertheless.

"…" Giovanni comprehended the question and then stood up from his seat and proceeded over to his closet, the same one where he retrieved Lucario's Expert Belt from. From that closet, he found an odd sable cloth and then presented it to Lucario.

Lucario didn't know what to make of the cloth Giovanni was holding. "_What the hell is that?_" he said rather bluntly, unsure of the cloth that Giovanni held in his hands.

"This is a Reaper Cloth," Giovanni said. "It's a hold item that makes a Dusclops evolve into a Dusknoir."

Giovanni gave him the Reaper Cloth, and Lucario examined it thoroughly, rubbing his fingers across the item. He wasn't sure how exactly a simple piece of dark fabric was capable of helping a Pokémon with its evolution.

Against his wishes, he inquired "_How does it work?_" and awaited Giovanni's explanation.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters: Floor 29 (Room 29-6)<span>

Date: April 14th, 2011 (04/14/11)

Time: 4:08 PM

"_It's not exactly rocket science, Dusclops. You simply have to assimilate the Reaper Cloth and make it a part of you. As to what occurs next is natural and beneficial for you,_" Lucario explained.

Dusclops, whom already had the Reaper Cloth in hand, did as Lucario explained it to do. It attempted to absorb the Reaper Cloth and make it a part of itself.

Much to its surprise, the effort to do so was minimal. The instant Dusclops merely _thought_ of assimilating the Reaper Cloth, it suddenly seeped _within_ Dusclops as if it was _already_ a part of it.

What occurred next, as Lucario said earlier, was natural and beneficial.

All of a sudden, Dusclops was consumed in a bright white light and its entire body _became_ this light, while everyone else in Room 29-6 is shielding their eyes from this light. For the Pokémon who could tolerate the bright light, they noticed Dusclops was changing form. It lost its legs and gained an ethereal tail. Its arms grew out and it gained a bizarre antenna on its head.

Once the light faded, Dusclops was no longer present before the Pokémon. _Dusknoir_ was present before the Pokémon.

_**(National Pokédex entry #477: Dusknoir, the Gripper Pokémon. It is a Ghost-Type Pokémon that measures in at 7' 03" in height and 235.0 lbs. in weight. It is said to take lost spirits into its pliant body and guide them home. This Pokémon effectively has the most connection to the infamous Grim Reaper than any other Pokémon.)**_

"…" Dusknoir examined its new body, its new hands and tail in particular, and the fact that it was now capable of effortless wraithlike levitation.

"_Dusclops—I mean, Dusknoir—, how do you feel right now?_" Lucario asked the Gripper Pokémon a question.

With its solitary red eye, it glared at Lucario before speaking with an unchanged telepathic voice. "_To put it simply, I feel reborn._"

Mewtwo looked at the clock within Room 29-6 and then had this to say: "_Since we all are now at our peak form, are we all in favor of an afternoon training session?_"

The decision was unanimous, with all eight Pokémon in favor of a training session, and everyone headed over to Floor 15.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 15): Training Room<span>

Date: April 14th, 2011 (04/14/11)

Time: 4:33 PM

Back inside of the Training Room within Floor 15 of Team Rocket Main Headquarters, all eight Pokémon resumed further training, albeit with different match-ups, three in total. All three of these match-ups had a similarity: strong against vs. weak against.

Terra and Aqua were facing off against each other, one-on-one. Terra wanted to emulate what Lucario did with Fire-Type attacks, and develop a resistance to Ice-Type attacks—which both Dragon-Type Pokémon _and_ Ground-Type Pokémon are extremely susceptible against. Terra had Aqua constantly direct its Ice-Type attacks towards it—such as ICE SHARD, ICE BEAM, and BLIZZARD—, to borderline hypothermia.

A three-on-one battle ensued with Lucario, Luxray, and Wanderer vs. Tyranitar. Both sides had their reasons by which they all agreed with before fighting: Tyranitar _adored_ fights with multiple Pokémon, and its opponents wanted to practice how to use MAGNET RISE, a Pokémon technique that renders all Ground-Type Pokémon techniques pointless—favorable to Electric-Type and Steel-Type Pokémon. Tyranitar was ordered by Mewtwo to use the Ground-Type attacks in its repertoire against them, such as EARTHQUAKE. However, never one to _completely_ follow orders, the Armor Pokémon also used other moves in its repertoire, such as STONE EDGE and GIGA IMPACT—a favorite of Tyranitar.

The final matchup was between the Pokémon that remained: Dusknoir vs. Mewtwo. What they were doing was sparring against each other, where Mewtwo effortlessly evaded Dusknoir's Dark-Type and Ghost-Type attacks, such as DARK PULSE, SHADOW BALL, and even the unavoidable SHADOW PUNCH.

Mewtwo had an infamous habit of making _everyone_ look pitiful compared to it. Dusknoir was wise, but Mewtwo was far wiser. If Dusknoir was going to _smack_ Mewtwo with an attack, Mewtwo can't see it coming, and against Mewtwo, Dusknoir found it impossible to inflict damage or even _aim_ at the Genetic Pokémon. Mewtwo would always evade each and every one of its attacks, by either a large gap in distance or by the skin on its teeth.

To the average person—or _Pokémon_—, the weak spot of most opponents would be their backsides, where their eyes aren't located. If an average person—or _Pokémon_—used this similar strategy against Mewtwo, they'd never use it again because Mewtwo's adept psychic abilities give it a full hemispheric field of vision. To the _advanced_ person—or _Pokémon_—however, they'd have to attack _faster_ than Mewtwo could react.

That wasn't impossible, if the Pokémon was proficient with speed.

However, since Dusknoir was a slow Pokémon, it had to use an attack technique against Mewtwo that fulfilled two requirements: Mewtwo doesn't know about the attack and it's not able to see it coming _until_ the attack is made.

After firing another evaded SHADOW BALL, Dusknoir was feeling exhausted of verve, while Mewtwo appeared as fresh as the moment before entering Floor 15.

"_I've heard from Lucario that you have been practicing a new technique,_" Mewtwo said, with a face of stone, "_A technique that only the legendary Pokémon Giratina can use._"

"_That's correct,_ (As usual…)" Dusknoir responded, with a shortness of breath.

"_Attempt the technique on me. That's an order. I want to experience its power first-hand._" Mewtwo bent its knees slightly and formed a battle stance, a stance that meant Mewtwo would expect _something_, but did not mean that Mewtwo had anticipated the attack's effects. Its eyes were trained on Dusknoir, and its tail was slowly waving left and right.

"_As you wish…_" Dusknoir said with fatigue.

Instantly, like a light switched from on to off, Dusknoir vanished. Mewtwo, sensing no trace of Dusknoir, didn't react in astonishment, and simply maintained its stance.

So when Dusknoir reappeared _behind_ Mewtwo, it launched a punch towards the Genetic Pokémon. Mewtwo, immediately _sensing_ Dusknoir's presence, caught the punch with its right hand, without so much as looking back or moving anything else.

Before Dusknoir became surprised at Mewtwo's speed—or _surprising_ physical strength, Mewtwo began talking, once again without looking back.

"_A technique where the user instantly disappears, and then returns to attack the opponent… The technique is indispensable and is capable of bypassing rampart techniques, such as PROTECT and DETECT._"

Mewtwo paused while speaking, and then resumed.

"_It's impressive that you've learned SHADOW FORCE, Dusknoir._"

Dusknoir, disregarding Mewtwo's incredible fighting capabilities, imagined what Mewtwo's countenance was currently, since it was unable to see it. It couldn't help but imagine that Mewtwo was _smiling_, an action that it rarely—if _ever_—does.

* * *

><p><em><span>10.4: Double Battle! Aura and Genetic vs. Blade and Embrace<span>_

Location: Viridian City (Viridian Gym)

Date: April 21th, 2011 (04/21/11)

Time: 9:43 PM

This assignment in Viridian Gym is considerably different from before. Giovanni, deciding to break free from a traditional pothole, decided to have both Lucario and Mewtwo fight _alongside_ each other—with their battle armor on—in a double battle. This event was only available for today, and stalwart Pokémon Trainers from all over Kanto took advantage of this exceptional moment.

Both Lucario and Mewtwo, despite facing off against some of the most arduous combinations of Pokémon, never lost a battle, or even faced any difficulty. They both supported each other with their tremendous power, never disagreeing with whatever tactic each one of them decided on.

They both favored one strategy in particular though: Lucario favored close combat, while Mewtwo favored long-range combat.

For their final battle of the night, both Lucario and Mewtwo are to fight against one Pokémon from _two_ Pokémon Trainers, both of which appeared to be above average when compared to previous challengers. Each Pokémon Trainer released one Pokémon, a Gallade and a Gardevoir. Both opponents were Psychic-Type Pokémon, albeit Gallade is also a Fighting-Type Pokémon. They appeared confident in their abilities after seeing both Lucario and Mewtwo.

_Battle (VS Trainer)/GBA Pokémon Fire Red & Leaf Green Music Super Complete (DISC 1)/Go Ichinose_

_(Song Begins)_

Lucario and Mewtwo quickly noticed that their Psychic-Type opponents were considerably more powerful than their previous Pokémon opponents. They instantly used their extrasensory abilities upon speculating their potential: Lucario with Aura Vision and Mewtwo with his hemispheric-vision extrasensory perception.

"(Which opponent do you choose to fight against?)" Lucario communicated to Mewtwo through thought.

"(I could care less. Take your pick.)" Mewtwo communicated through the same method.

"(Watch closely then,)"

After those words, the hand-spike of Lucario's left arm quickly morphed into a metal glove, silver and rounded, similar in shape to a bullet. Using BULLET PUNCH, a first-strike Steel-Type attack, Lucario charged towards Gardevoir, fist first.

Gallade, being equally as fast as Lucario, stepped in front of Gardevoir. Before Lucario's BULLET PUNCH struck Gardevoir, Gallade smiled and spread its arms out, creating a cube of clear psychic energy, known as REFLECT. The power of REFLECT, once Lucario's BULLET PUNCH struck Gallade in its chest outcropping, instantly divided the punch's power by half, leaving bearable damage to the unexpected target.

"(Interesting…)" Lucario pondered, retracting his arm and having his left arm return to normal.

"(An offensive Pokémon with defensive techniques... How surprising…)" Mewtwo thought impressed, when Gallade's REFLECT dissipated from sight, but not from effect, since REFLECT last for a fair amount of time.

"(Can you fight this Gallade?)"

"(I can fight it effortlessly. Can you fight against that Gardevoir?)"

"(That's who I intended to punch in the first place.)"

"(Wise choice…)"

Both Gallade and Gardevoir separated from each other and stepped in different corners of the battlefield. Lucario and Mewtwo stepped close together, with each other's backs beside one another, staring at their opponents. Lucario ogled Gardevoir with martial intent and Mewtwo locked its eyes onto Gallade, attempting to sense its next move. The Blade Pokémon began charging up psychic energy on its sharp arms, charging up energy for its second attack. The Embrace Pokémon clasped its hands and closed its eyes, focusing its mind and emanating a mild aura, through the effects of CALM MIND.

"(I sense their next attacks,)" Mewtwo thought to Lucario.

"(I know. I sense PSYCHO CUT from Gallade, and THUNDERBOLT from Gardevoir.)"

"(Do you wish to allow them to attack us?)"

"(We might as well give them a chance before we defeat them.)"

Gallade, with its arms fully charged, unleashed PSYCHO CUT—as both Lucario and Mewtwo anticipated—in the form of stationary consecutive arm swings, having sharp blades of psychic energy fly towards Mewtwo like reckless buzz-saws. Gardevoir, with its Special Attack and Special Defense stats increased, quickly fired lightning out of its hands—THUNDERBOLT—and aimed it towards Lucario.

"(What about damaging us? Do you want them to inflict damage on us?)" Mewtwo thought.

"(…Hell no! I only wanted them to _attack_ us.)"

"(I thought so…)" Mewtwo clasped its bulbous hands together, thinking to Lucario "(Stay close to me then)" before generating a hemispheric bulwark of solidified air—PROTECT.

Both PSYCHO CUT and THUNDERBOLT struck Lucario and Mewtwo, albeit because of PROTECT, the attacks bounced off and scattered across the battlefield. The reflected attacks almost struck innocent bystanders in the building: Giovanni and the two Pokémon Trainers.

Both Gallade and Gardevoir already planned on their next attacks. Once the rampart technique disappeared, Gallade's arms emanated a dark energy and Gardevoir's eyes flashed once, a sign of an impending attack.

"(Now it's our turn to attack,)" Lucario thought to Mewtwo.

"(I'll enjoy this significantly.)"

Lucario immediately utilized EXTREMESPEED and rushed over to Gardevoir's backside at speeds rivaling that of sound. Mewtwo used TELEPORT and materialized behind Gallade in an instant. Both armored Pokémon attacked their respective opponents: Lucario full-body tackled Gardevoir with EXTREMESPEED, and Mewtwo, with its forehead emanating stalwart psychic energy, used ZEN HEADBUTT on Gallade. Both attacks struck hard against the opponent's backs, especially because of their battle armor. However, because of the lingering effects of REFLECT, the cube of psychic energy appeared immediately and reduced the physical damage by half.

Both opponents, sent flying due to the other half of the inflicted power, regained their balance and retaliated. Gallade somersaulted and planted its feet on an incoming wall, jumped horizontally to reach Mewtwo, and began to slash away at the Genetic Pokémon with NIGHT SLASH. Gardevoir instantly used PSYCHIC on itself and halted its flight pattern. While hovering in mid-air, Gardevoir used PSYCHIC on Lucario and immediately had him hover in mid-air along with the Embrace Pokémon, immobile and vulnerable.

Mewtwo evaded each and every one of Gallade's NIGHT SLASH attacks. Both Gallade's offensive speed and Mewtwo's evasive speed were equivalent with each other, and they were _both_ high in proficiency. To the people watching this, it would appear that Gallade was striking with NIGHT SLASH _three times at once_ at Mewtwo, and Mewtwo was still evading each of the attacks _three times at once_. The optical lag of the human eye proved disorienting to the viewers of the battle, so they had to focus on Gardevoir and Lucario.

Gardevoir treated Lucario like a rag doll with its powerful psychic abilities. Up on the roof, down on the floor, and across each wall was where Lucario left life-size craters of himself with each impact. The impacts did damage both Lucario and his battle armor, but Lucario was already tolerant of pain—and the nausea of flying—and simply let Gardevoir have its way with him, knowing that both the Blade Pokémon and the Embrace Pokémon won't win this battle, but decided to give them a parting chance.

Gardevoir _did_ manage to draw blood from Lucario's mouth however, which was left behind as residue on the second set of craters, but the blood was only minute and hardly important enough for the need of concern.

"(We're of different fighting styles, Lucario,)" Mewtwo thought while easily avoiding Gallade's NIGHT SLASH attacks. "(I avoid damage and you _prefer_ it.)"

"(No pain…) Oof! (No _gain!_) Blegh!" Lucario's breath was forcefully expelled from him with each slam across the walls, roof, and floor. "(I'm simply stalling for FUTURE SIGHT to arrive!) Heh heh—HAAH!"

"(So we are…)" Mewtwo thought.

A few seconds went by in time before signs of Gardevoir's FUTURE SIGHT attack began to appear. The first sign: Lucario stopped bouncing across the battlefield as if it were a pinball and was held in place, a few meters in front of Gardevoir. The second sign: A portal appeared directly in front of Lucario and behind Gardevoir, about 150 feet in approximated distance. The third sign: from that portal, a massive spherical clump of energy in eight different colors was viewable.

"(Now's the time to strike, Mewtwo,)" Lucario thought, with a plan in mind.

"(You lead, and I'll follow,)" Mewtwo thought concisely, choosing to see what Lucario has in mind.

Lucario, despite being under submission from Gardevoir's PSYCHIC, was by no means _completely_ helpless. Lucario's counterattack simply involved overwhelming Gardevoir's PSYCHIC with _his_ own PSYCHIC, since only the body and not the mind is subdued by PSYCHIC. The end result involved an astounded Gardevoir, suddenly placed within the firing end of the portal, and Lucario levitating both himself and Gardevoir with his stalwart telekinetic abilities.

"(So _that's_ your plan,)" Mewtwo thought before deciding to act differently from its current actions.

Disregarding the burning sensation that its hands would succumb to, Mewtwo grabbed both of Gallade's NIGHT SLASH-imbued arms and held on to them tightly, preventing the Blade Pokémon from swinging at the Genetic Pokémon any further. To properly subdue the squirming Gallade, Mewtwo impacted its head with Gallade's forehead with ZEN HEADBUTT, rattling the Blade Pokémon's skull and stunning it instantly, despite the REFLECT barrier cutting Mewtwo's attack strength in half.

With Gallade now in submission, Mewtwo utilized _its_ PSYCHIC to place Gallade in the same position as its Embrace Pokémon partner, within the firing path of the FUTURE SIGHT attack.

Gardevoir's FUTURE SIGHT attack emerged from the portal, moments before the portal itself disappeared, and traveled forward as if it were a cannonball. Gallade, recovering quickly enough from a mild concussion to see the attack coming at them, heard the trainer's orders to use CLOSE COMBAT on the incoming FUTURE SIGHT attack. The flurry of punches and kicks against the orb of volatile psychic energy only succeeded in reducing a _quarter_ of its overall power, before it violently exploded, blinding all life within the battlefield in a cloud of dust.

Two sharp shrieks of pain were audible, and then two slams onto the floor.

_(Song Ends)_

Once the dust cleared, the status quo of the after-effects became clear to everyone within the Viridian Gym.

Lucario and Mewtwo were on the floor adjacent to each other, unsurprisingly unscathed from the explosion because of their battle armor and distance from the explosion. Gallade and Gardevoir, however, were face down on the floor, ubiquitously burned and bloody from the FUTURE SIGHT attack. They appeared unconscious and cadaverous before the trainers' eyes.

"(They were strong enough to defeat themselves with their _own_ attack,)" Lucario directed his thoughts to Mewtwo, mentally unanimous on the belief that Gallade and Gardevoir were finished.

"(No,)" Mewtwo responded. "(They only cracked themselves to the point where one blow each will _shatter_ them both. I can sense their energy. They are almost drained of their stamina.)"

As Mewtwo suspected, Gallade and Gardevoir _were_ still able to fight, despite their disappearing power. They got back up on their feet after trying and falling a few times, cleaned themselves up of the blood they were secreting across their bodies, and formed a battle stance. They almost lost their balance a couple of times while on their stance, signs that they both would not last much longer in this battle.

"(May I deal the _shattering_ final blows?)" Lucario thought.

"(Of course you may. However, allow me to leave them _completely_ susceptible first.)"

Mewtwo quickly used TELEPORT and disappeared from its original location alongside Lucario before it rematerialized directly _between_ the feeble Gallade and tottering Gardevoir. It extended its arms and solidified its hands into the shape of a blade before both swollen hands emanated white light.

Using BRICK BREAK—a Fighting-Type Pokémon technique _designed_ to shatter lingering bulwarks—, it swung both hands, fully extended, and contacted both Pokémon across their torsos. REFLECT reappeared once more, albeit with no lasting beneficial aid. Their final defense shattered like glass before disappearing into nothingness.

"(My turn,)" Lucario thought.

Lucario held both arms out and above his body, opening his paws and having their palms pointed towards the ceiling. Directly above each of Lucario's palms, light blue "femur bones" formed, each radiating a bright blue aura—due to being created from Lucario's natural aura. Lucario's choice of attack technique for finishing this battle was called BONEMERANG, an attack in the same family as BONE RUSH.

Both "femur bones", once fully formed, landed on Lucario's paws. Twirling them both briefly and expertly around his paws, Lucario gripped both aura bones and hurled them towards Gallade and Gardevoir. Mewtwo used TELEPORT to disappear from the firing line, moments before Lucario's BONEMERANG attack instantly made contact with both Pokémon, directly in the center of their foreheads, quickly toppling them over into unconsciousness. The bones returned to Lucario's paws, where he simply assimilated their energy back into his body.

With both Gallade and Gardevoir unconscious and unable to continue the battle, Lucario and Mewtwo were victorious. Their victory didn't matter much to them, especially because they outmatched their opponents in virtually all possible ways.

"(They're growing in power with each passing day…)" Giovanni thought to himself, astonished at Lucario and Mewtwo's growing power.

Lucario and Mewtwo, now adjacent once more, sat down on the floor and meditated on their recent victory.

"(…Excellent…)" Giovanni smiled malevolently.

* * *

><p>"The only teacher who's worth anything to you is your enemy." –Orson Scott Card ("<em><span>Xenocide<span>_")

* * *

><p>He heh... I bet you all didn't know that I could speak Spanish.<p>

I thought of putting it to good use when Xeno Lucario got drunk. It wasn't my original intention however. I originally thought of slurring his telepathic speech and leave it at that, but I couldn't downgrade it sufficiently, and it caused a ton of conflict with Microsoft Office Word.

So I thought of something a little less common.

I made him inadvertently speak Spanish (and added brackets with the English translation, so that I don't lose my fellow readers). My main reason for doing so was to stand out a bit. I didn't do this for the humor. My humor is somewhat lacking, I believe, and not one of my strong points.

Unless someone can prove me wrong...

Another thing, about Mewtwo reading _Ender's Game_. It's easily my favorite book series of all time, and I can't believe I stumbled into that series by chance. I'd explain _how _I stumbled into it, but I'll save that for another day.

Since I'm still on topic with _Ender's Game_, are you all aware that it's currently in the process of being made into a movie? It's true, I tell you. You can learn more about that through Google News. You just type in "Ender's Game movie", and scroll through the articles. That movie is due for release in March 15th, 2013. So for the fans of the series, mark your calenders. I know that I've done so already, and I can't wait how it'll turn out.

Of cource, there's always a chance that it'll be one big disappointment...

Anyway, back to my story. The usual has been updated with this chapter and the next: my table of contents, song choice, end quotes, and Lucario's new list of moves.

However, I'm not done yet.

There's still "Chapter V (5)", the second half of this two-parter.


	11. Chapter V (5)

Well, here it is, the second half of this two-parter update.

I already did most of my explaining in the first half, so I'll spare you most of the details.

To put simply, this chapter focuses more on the future of both Mewtwo's and Xeno Lucario's placement in my story. Just like my last chapter, a couple of new Pokemon faces come into play.

A couple of new songs are utilized for your aural benefit: the background theme to Mt. Coronet, as well as a _Kingdom Hearts_ Hollow Bastion showdown.

Finally, there's two _specific_ characters that come into play within this story, both of which will heavily influence Mewtwo's role within this story, as well as my future plans.

I'll give you a hint as to who they are.

Look at both of your hands.

That is all.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter V (5): Daily Life in Team Rocket (Part II (2))<strong>

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 2): Library

Date: June 14th, 2011 (06/14/11)

Time: 5:32 PM

Lucario, on another day off of Team Rocket missions and objectives, decided to gather more intelligence from the books that Team Rocket Main Headquarters offered in their respective library. One book quickly caught Lucario's eye, "_The Center Point of the Sinnoh Region_", a book that offers information on Sinnoh's Mt. Coronet.

Mt. Coronet is the tallest mountain range in Sinnoh, observable from any point in the entire region. It is said to contain Spear Pillar, a towering monument where the Alpha Pokémon Arceus created Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia. Their respective items were also made simultaneously: the Adamant Orb, Griseous Orb, and the Lustrous Orb. Once they were born, Arceus then fell into a deep slumber on the highest point in the mountain.

Spear Pillar is located on the tallest point in Mt. coronet, making it the tallest point in the entire Sinnoh region. It's shrouded in legend and is an ancient shrine with several of its pillars still standing erect to this day. Few people have successfully braved the frigid blizzards of Mt. Coronet and entered Spear Pillar, and those who have only see the pillars that remain stable and standing to this day. They notice a language that is currently impossible to decipher, imbued on specific pillars, some standing and some collapsed and in fragments. The language is from the Unown, Pokémon in the shape of one of twenty-eight symbols.

Lucario flipped through the remainder of the pages within the book, only to find nothing on the writings on the pillars of Spear Pillar. He closes the book and places it back in its original location on the book shelf.

"(How does Wanderer know the language of the Unown?)" Lucario thought to himself.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6<span>

Date: June 14th, 2011 (06/14/11)

Time: 7:21 PM

Lucario, Mewtwo, and Wanderer were currently present in Room 29-6, with everyone else relaxing within their respective Poké Balls. The three Pokémon begin to discuss Mt. Coronet, the Spear Pillar, and the language of the Unown.

"_Are you absolutely sure that you don't recall the remainder of the prophecy inscribed on one of Spear Pillar's pillars?_" Mewtwo inquired Wanderer.

"_I swear it with my life,_" Wanderer spoke truthfully.

Lucario recalled past events, back when he won his fight against an Absol and was aided in his physical recovery, and remembered Wanderer digressed from a topic about abnormal Lucario abilities and spoke of a divination.

* * *

><p>(Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"…There's a myth inscribed on one of Spear Pillar's…pillars." _Wanderer remembered only a fraction of this._ "It prophesizes a Pokémon, _any_ Pokémon excluding Arceus, that defies normal Pokémon laws. I only wish I knew more, since I never finished deciphering the unusual pillar's Unown's language."

* * *

><p>(End of Lucario's Flashback)<p>

A question quickly emerged within Lucario's mind. "_Why were you _not_ able to completely decipher their language?_"

"_The pillar from which the prophecy was inscribed on was _shattered_ into hundreds of pieces. I didn't possess telekinetic abilities back then, and I had little success in repairing the pillar myself. I only read what was already present on the remaining structure of the pillar._"

"_Is that all?_" Lucario said, expecting a response where Wanderer would say something like "I only had enough time to decipher this much."

"_I was not what I am presently back then,_" Wanderer explained.

"_You are now._" Mewtwo said.

"_Mewtwo, what are you attempting to imply?_" Lucario wondered.

_"I have a mission tomorrow, involving capturing Pokémon within the caverns of Mt. Coronet. Traveling there will take a few days, back and forth, and I can discreetly search for Spear Pillar during my brief visit there. It would be helpful to me if your Wanderer accompanied me, since you've been within Spear Pillar before."_

"_I'll accompany you, Mewtwo,_" Wanderer agreed with a small smile. "_It would be nostalgic to see my old place of residence once more..._" The light-furred Aura Pokémon looked at the dark-furred Aura Pokémon. "_…_if_ you allow me to, since humanity assumes that I'm of your possession._"

"…" Lucario paused briefly to assess the situation and review.

Mewtwo would have a mission tomorrow, where it goes to capture Pokémon at Mt. Coronet. Since Spear Pillar holds questions that they desire answers to, Mewtwo wants Wanderer to accompany it and help look for it, since Wanderer has been to Spear Pillar once as it is. The time interval would consume three days at least, time which was of no means an encumbrance to Lucario.

"_Of course I'll allow you to go with Mewtwo. The re-visit to Spear Pillar will benefit you._"

Lucario used PSYCHIC to obtain Wanderer's Great Ball and gave it to Mewtwo. Mewtwo returned Wanderer to its respective Poké Ball and placed the Great Ball on its respective shelf.

"_It's still early in the night Mewtwo. Do you want to play chess to pass the time?_"

"_You'll prove more formidable than everybody else, albeit I'll still win._"

"…" Lucario proceeded to retrieve the chess set, having no counterargument to say to Mewtwo's fact.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Mt. Coronet (Summit)<span>

Date: June 18th, 2011 (06/18/11)

Time: 11:57 AM

_Mt. Tenga/Hitomi Sato, Junichi Masuda/Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Soundtrack_

_(Song Begins)_

As Mewtwo stated a few days earlier, it had a mission to go capture Pokémon at Mt. Coronet. It was able to bring Wanderer as well with it, without anyone knowing otherwise.

Once the cargo helicopters dropped off the Grunts, Mewtwo included, on the entrance to Mt. Coronet, the rest of the voyage proved treacherous to them. Steep rocky cliffs and frigid snowstorms higher up at the summit would deter goalless people, but not the Grunts of Team Rocket. They assumed that the stronger Pokémon were up at the summit and ventured upward to search, showing admiral determination for their criminalist cause.

Mewtwo, despite the frigid cold of the snow and little protection that its bald, mostly-gray skin and titanium-crystalline alloy armor provided for, didn't so much as _shiver_. Its psychic power allowed it to create a thin barrier where body temperature was better contained. Everyone else managed with the clothing they already had, although they did dress warmer before entering Mt. Coronet. They wore an under layer of insulated clothing that coated their entire bodies, as well as a scarf and earmuffs, both black in color.

While everyone else was capturing Pokémon outside in the middle of a snowstorm, Mewtwo ventured ahead, observing the other Grunts in order to make sure that they weren't observing it—not entirely necessary, since the snowstorm veiled Mewtwo from their sight. The Genetic Pokémon entered a cavern within the summit, a dim and cool area, albeit mildly warmer than the outside cold.

Before proceeding any further, from the Poké Ball bag that it had strapped to its side, Mewtwo retrieved Wanderer's Great Ball and summoned the Aura Pokémon before it.

"_Are we close to Spear Pillar?_" Mewtwo asked Wanderer, after it rematerialized.

"_Let me check first…_" Wanderer observed the cavern they were in, comparing it to past memories where it entered Spear Pillar before. It then got down on all four paws and placed one of its two ears on the floor, tapping the ground with one of its paws to hear how the earth resonated. Finally, it stood back upright on two paws, feeling the wind with its erect ears, listening to the whistling sound that the air made along its way here.

"_What do you conclude, Wanderer?_" Mewtwo cared less of Wanderer's actions for geographic familiarization.

"_We're close. Spear Pillar is only minutes away from here._"

"_Lead the way and I'll follow you._"

Wanderer immediately activated its Aura Vision ability, allowing the extra blood flow to its head influence its eyes and allow it to see the natural aura of the environment, as well as having its dreadlock-like appendages hover horizontal and defy gravity. It ventured forth ahead of Mewtwo within the cavern, and Mewtwo followed closely.

The cavern was by no means a straight and smooth path. The cavern was rocky, steep, and often required stalwart climbing skills. Wanderer, with incredible agility, hopped up and over each obstacle in front of it, and Mewtwo simply hovered over, following Wanderer closely. There were times where they had to shove a boulder aside, or where Wanderer had to transcend over raised ground. Mewtwo would simply move the boulder aside with PSYCHIC and Wanderer would wall-jump off of the wall, using its hand-spikes and aura abilities to hang off of the walls.

Both Pokémon eventually stopped at what appeared to be a dead end.

"_Are you sure that this is the right way, Wanderer?_" Mewtwo asked, looking at Wanderer.

"…" Wanderer dissipated its Aura Vision ability and simply looked despondent upon seeing the dead end.

"_Wanderer…?_"

"_…Son of a bitch…_" Wanderer cursed downheartedly.

Mewtwo, now sensing something was amiss, looked at the wall before it. It was now that it noticed that the wall wasn't made of one single rock, but many rocks, each of varying sizes. Mewtwo instantly identified the problem: a cave-in.

"_Shall we begin the excavation?_" Mewtwo said.

Hearing those words reinvigorated Wanderer. "_Yes, of course._"

Both Pokémon prepared to use PSYCHIC to remove the obstruction of rocks. Before they were about to do so however, an echo of a Team Rocket Grunt's voice reached their ears.

"Hello, Mewtwo? If you're in there, we're leaving now! We have about five minutes before the cargo helicopter gets here, and we'd rather not have any delays!"

Both Pokémon, after hearing that their time here is up, only had one thing to say.

"_…Fu—_"

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6<span>

Date: June 21st, 2011 (06/21/11)

Time: 9:44 PM

"_So the voyage to Mt. Coronet was of no benefit to _us_, huh?_" Lucario asked solemnly.

Mewtwo and Wanderer shook their heads, disappointed of the lack of progress.

"_Aside from Viridian Gym, we never ventured into the same area twice for a mission._" Lucario continued. "_Who knows how long it'll take for us to re-visit Mt. Coronet._"

* * *

><p><em><span>11.1: Ten Months Later<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6

Date: August 14th, 2011 (08/14/11)

Time: 6:59 PM

Within Room 29-6, besides the eight Pokémon that reside within it, are dozens of Team Rocket Grunts. Scattered between the throng of Team Rocket Grunts is Lucario, Mewtwo, and their parties of Pokémon. Giovanni was present as well, and he was standing adjacent of the crowd, slightly elevated so that everyone could see him, as if on a podium. The Grunts and Pokémon observed Giovanni closely and silently, expecting a few words from him.

"May I have your attention please?" Giovanni said, tapping his held wine glass loudly in order to ensure that he had everyone's attention.

The Grunts and Pokémon observed closely.

"Good. Now, I must digress. How many of you believed that having Pokémon become a Team Rocket operative was a terrible idea?"

Only the humans in the audience were the species to raise their hands. And of them, about half of them raised their hands, having their hands answer Giovanni's question.

Lucario and Mewtwo wondered where this was going.

"And how many of you believed that I was idiotic for making Pokémon _more_ than just our tools?"

About 95% of the humans raised their hands in agreement, not paying attention to the despondent countenances of the Pokémon.

"And finally, how many of you think, after ten months, that having Pokémon work as _equals_ alongside humans is a benefit for Team Rocket?"

To the Pokémon's surprise, _everybody_ raised their hands.

"That's what I thought," Giovanni smiled when everyone raised their hands. "Now, I'm about to alter Team Rocket history once more. Can both Mewtwo and Xeno stand before me?"

Lucario and Mewtwo, from within the crowd of Team Rocket Grunts, proceeded forth as ordered and made themselves clearly present before the Team Rocket Boss.

"For outstanding performance in capturing Pokémon for the benefit of our organization, as well as demonstrating Legendary Pokémon attributes, I hereby _promote_ the both of you to Admin."

Everybody within the audience, despite their astonishment, didn't forget to applause on behalf of their promotion and good work. Lucario and Mewtwo, to a degree, didn't expect a promotion, or a powerful response from the remainder of the organization.

"Let us now celebrate this historic event, the day that not one, but _two_ Pokémon were promoted to the title of Admin."

Immediately, the party began within Room 29-6. There was a mixture of dancing, music, and drinking of alcoholic beverages—as is the norm of these sorts of events. Perhaps the most surprising of all was the interaction between the people and the Pokémon.

Right beside the television set and the couch, Aqua somehow walked its way into a contest that five Grunts were doing. The Grunts were fed alcohol through a funnel and a tube, and would either hold it in or vomit it out. They'd constantly chant "Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" in unison. They were all drunk and wanted to see if Aqua could top them.

Being as large as it was, Aqua outperformed them easily, never vomiting once after drinking _three_ gallons of alcohol in one sitting. Unfortunately, it _did_ pass out from the intoxication, and then was treated like a piece of furniture: Grunts looking for a place to sit decided to sit down on Aqua's exterior shell.

Mewtwo was having chess matches against the sober Team Rocket Grunts. Due to the sheer noise of the entire Room, Mewtwo decided not to read while playing because it wouldn't be able to concentrate as heavily. Instead, it drank only a couple of glasses of wine, not enough to influence its dexterous mind however, and predictably, it decimated all of its opponents.

In one case, Mewtwo won in only _two_ moves. A Grunt opened up poorly by moving two pawns on the king's side, placing them in locations f3 and g4 of the chess board. This left the Grunt's king piece _completely_ open to a diagonal attack by Mewtwo's queen piece, which it let out by moving the pawn piece in front of the king piece earlier. Mewtwo emerged victorious through a Fool's Checkmate.

Everyone else seemed to dance, rest within their respective Poké Balls, or choose to get away from it all by further training within Floor 15's Training Room.

In the middle of it all, Giovanni approached Lucario and Mewtwo, telling them of a gift that comes with the promotion to Admin.

"Come with me," he told them both. "It's time for you both to choose your fourth Pokémon."

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6<span>

Date: August 15th, 2011 (08/15/11)

Time: 10:37 AM

The next day, once everyone was awake and full of morning's breakfast, Lucario and Mewtwo introduced their new fourth Pokémon to the rest of the Pokémon within their respective parties. Lucario, as his fourth Pokémon, chose an Aron. Mewtwo, for its fourth Pokémon, chose a Charmander.

_**(National Pokédex entry #304: Aron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. It is a Rock-Type and Steel-Type Pokémon that measures 1' 04" in height and a surprising 132.3 lbs. in weight. It usually lives deep in mountains. However, hunger may drive it to eat railroad tracks and cars. That'd be an interesting case to report to Geico: an Aron ate my car.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #004: Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. It is a Fire-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 00" and weighs approximately 18.7 lbs. The fire on the tip of its tail is a measure of its life. If healthy, its tail burns intensely. This is likely useful for campfire or cooking purposes.)**_

Aside from Lucario and Mewtwo, their respective parties of Pokémon expected both Lucario's Aron and Mewtwo's Charmander to shudder in timidity for the first few days, similar to what Mewtwo's party of Pokémon did for their first moments with their new master.

To their surprise however, both the Aron and Charmander were as mentally calm as a gentle breeze, as if they were already part of the entire group for months. Their personalities were clearly known as well, due to their ease of minds.

Lucario's Aron was by far the _most_ nonchalant Pokémon that they all knew of, apparently lacking in _any_ emotion that could trigger any form of stress. Aside from its incredible coolness of attitude, it was also the most grammatically concise of Pokémon, speaking only a few words in a conversation, or none at all. It tends to mumble its words softly, with an unusually deep and kindhearted voice. The Iron Armor Pokémon also seems to have an unusual habit of having its eyes appear nonexistent to those who look upon it. In battle, it always relies on its stalwart defense and calculated counterattacks. It rarely attacks first against an opponent unless its attack is guaranteed to strike and influence.

Mewtwo's Charmander is a gentle pacifist of a Pokémon. It will fight when needed, despite its dislike to violence, but will prefer not to. It holds a lot of _fire_power in battle and knows of this quite well. It attacks conservatively and prefers long-range combat, although it is adept at close-range combat as well. Deep down, it can't help but feel as if it's either a tool, or is simply needed and relied on for specific tasks. One could say that it feels as if it is a prop, and is on occasion _treated_ as such.

"_Both Mewtwo and I have already inaugurated them through the Team Liberator Oath,_" Lucario explained to the Pokémon.

"(As redundant as it was…)" Mewtwo thought to itself.

"_During that party yesterday, Giovanni gave us each a fourth Pokémon of our choosing, as part of our promotion to Admin. We should all train today and bring both Aron and Charmander to our level._"

Everyone agrees to Lucario's choice of action and is promptly returned to their Poké Balls. Lucario can add Aron's Heavy Ball to his existing three, while Mewtwo can add Charmander's Level Ball to its existing three.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor B4): Basement Cells<span>

Date: August 15th, 2011 (08/15/11)

Time: 8:21 PM

Perhaps through some reason of nostalgia, Lucario decided to stroll across the basement floors of Team Rocket Main Headquarters. Lucario observed the Pokémon within the holding cells, noticing that some cells now held within them _more_ than one Pokémon.

Often, the Pokémon within the holding cells snarled and appeared to despise the Aura Pokémon, as he passed by them. These were the Pokémon that Lucario _personally_ captured for Team Rocket. The basement floors that Lucario passed above held newly-captured Pokémon in the same manner: _more_ than one within each holding cell. Virtually _all_ holding cells have at least two Pokémon within them, while some were now housing three.

Lucario saw that _this_ was why he was promoted to Admin.

"(I'm being rewarded for enslaving and murdering innocent bystanders of my race…)" Lucario thought and stopped in the middle of Floor B4's Basement Cells. He could hear the growls, shrieks, and hateful spites of the Pokémon surrounding him seep through the thick glass bulwark. In standing in the center of the room, he appeared to embrace the hate.

His head sagged low, with eyes pointed at the floor, not in use.

"(Will we ever escape from the iron hand of Team Rocket, or will we all work as tools for Team Rocket until we break?)" Lucario thought logically. "(What will happen when _I_ break? Will Team Rocket repair me or _dispose_ of me? Am I important enough to protect over? What about _Mewtwo_? Is it just as beneficial to Team Rocket as I appear to be, or just as disposable? What about our friends? What about _them_? Are they _tools_ for us tools, Mewtwo and me?)"

The hate of the Pokémon grew in intensity, almost submerging Lucario's questions with their sounds.

"(No, I'm not thinking the important questions. I need to think of my role here, and how I found myself here. Why does Team Rocket use us? Why have Mewtwo and I been _genuinely_ admitted as members of Team Rocket, when we're simply Pokémon, when we're simply fighting machines to them? What does Team Rocket _want_ from us? What does _Giovanni_ want from Mewtwo and me? What do other Pokémon _lack_ that we appear to _have?_ Is it _power_ that they crave? Do they desire money? What about world domination? What about—)"

The sound of the surrounding Pokémon gradually overwhelmed Lucario's proficient sense of hearing and began to enter his brain, where the sound rattled and resonated against his skull. Lucario's eyes shut tightly as he clutched the bases of his ears and clenched his teeth, exposing his canine-like fangs, his head aching with growing questions that needed answers.

Eventually, the pain of it all caused him to rush outside of the basement floors and climbed back up the stairs.

"(Perhaps in time, I'll have answers to my questions. I've lasted for ten months now, so I'm regarded by Team Rocket and valuable to them. I'll survive long enough in this hellhole, long enough to possibly have my answers come to me, when I finally act against Team Rocket and escape, along with each and every captive Pokémon that I've reluctantly captured.)"

* * *

><p><em><span>11.2: Twelve Months Later<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6

Date: October 14th, 2011 (10/14/11)

Time: 11:18 AM

As expected by now, both Lucario's and Mewtwo's newest Pokémon have evolved through arduous training. Lucario's Aron is now a Lairon and Mewtwo's Charmander is now a Charmeleon.

_**(National Pokédex entry #305: Lairon, the Iron Armor Pokémon. It is a Rock-Type and Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 11" and weighs a surprising 264.6 lbs. For food, it digs up iron ore. It smashes its steely body against others to fight over territory. **_**Lucario's **_**Lairon, however, would rather sit still and receive each hit, calmly and with necessary retaliation.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #005: Charmeleon, the Flame Pokémon. It is a Fire-Type Pokémon that measures in at 3' 07" and weighs in at a lightweight 41.9 lbs. In the rocky mountains where Charmeleon live, their fiery tails shine at night like stars. However, people would likely see entire **_**galaxies**_** if a Charmeleon inhabited a forest, if you know what I mean.)**_

Mewtwo, as well as the four Pokémon in its party, are away on training at the Viridian Gym. During this time, Lucario and his party of four Pokémon decide to have a session, where they recollect their pasts and share them to the group.

Aqua decided to go first in the group and recall its past. It first spoke of its age, making clear the fact that it is ten years old—date of birth unknown. It made clear the fact that it was once in a herd of Lapras, swimming across the world's oceans. It also made clear the fact that _Terra_, under the silhouette of Team Rocket, helped capture it.

Immediately expecting more apologies from Terra, Aqua silenced the Mach Pokémon by freezing its mouth shut with ICE BEAM.

Wanderer was second in discussing its past. As it was well known by now, Wanderer was born in Snowpoint City and cooperative to popular belief, nicknamed itself "Wanderer" _because_ of its preference to roaming across the landscape. It is good friends with Lucario, as well as the deceased Sceptile and Tiny, having met Sceptile one time when it was only a Grovyle. It fought Ho-oh and had the match end up as a stalemate. It was drawn to the forest above Celadon City, _primarily_ because it heard of a fight between an Absol and a dark-furred Lucario. Wanderer never expected to see its old friend again, and decided to permanently reside within the forest. It wasn't long before both Sceptile and Tiny perished under Team Rocket, and both Aura Pokémon were captured and taken to Team Rocket Main Headquarters.

Lucario, following Wanderer, began with when he was born. Lucario, as a Riolu, was born in Celadon Forest, naïve and searching for food. A genocidal Absol fought with him, mistaking him for Tiny, and was defeated by his AURA SPHERE. Tiny and Grovyle brought them _both_ home to recuperate, where Tiny and Grovyle agree to train Riolu. Absol left for thirty months to train in solitude. When it returned, Riolu and Grovyle evolved into Lucario and Sceptile. The fight between Absol and Lucario attracted the attention of many Pokémon, Wanderer especially. Lucario, through a difficult fight, defeated Absol the same way as last time, by _destroying_ its face with an AURA SPHERE punch. Lucario, being told this and not recalling it, passed out and _almost_ fell off of the cliff. Sceptile, Tiny, and Wanderer retrieved him before Lucario fell, and took him to recover. Lucario learns more techniques between that day and before being captured by Team Rocket.

Terra, once the ice on its mouth thawed and it was able to feel its lips, spoke of its past. As it was already known, it has worked for Team Rocket for twenty-_one_ years—an entire year has passed now—, having done numerous unspeakable deeds before meeting Lucario. It had spent the majority of its life under the control of Team Rocket Grunts. It was rarely treated with kindness and respect, which was predictably expected from a malevolent organization such as Team Rocket. Part of it wonders how it has remained alive for so long.

"…My turn?" Lairon concisely mumbled.

Terra nodded, preferring not to make eye contact to Lairon because it was mildly frightened of Lairon's apparent optical nothingness.

"…Okay…" Lairon began. "…I was hatched and raised here…fifteen months ago…like Mewtwo's Pokémon gamut. I was adequately cared for…and given enough substance to get by…"

An unusually long amount of silence past before Aqua finally spoke up. "And…what happened next?"

"…" Lairon was silent, with shadowed eyes and a quiescent posture.

"Isn't there anything more you have to say? Perhaps you could recall a memorable day, or a disparaging moment in your life?"

Lairon pivoted its head to its left and right side, slowly and rhythmically, with the silence of the cosmos.

"(Why is there something therapeutic about watching Lairon shake its head like that?)" Wanderer thought.

"Don't you have anything_ more_ to say about your past?" Aqua questioned, with a slight amount of irritation in its voice.

"…Immaterial…" Lairon said, once it stopped shaking its head.

"Hmph!" Aqua felt disappointed at Lairon's closed-book disposition.

"(Sorry if my disposition disappoints you…)" Lairon thought privately.

"(So Lairon and Mewtwo's entire party of Pokémon are approximately fifteen months old…)" Lucario thought, always alert to the age of others.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6<span>

Date: October 15th, 2011 (10/15/11)

Time: 12:10 AM (Ten past Midnight)

Within the barriers of Room 29-6, Lucario and his party of Pokémon were sound asleep. The sable night masked the view of the outside through the windows. No activity, other than daily rest, was in action at the moment.

It's what occurred _outside_ that mattered.

Outside of the window, under the black cloak of dusk, resided a hovering object, looking within the room. The object, if clearly visible from the radiant patina of dawn, was easily identifiable as _Mewtwo_. The Genetic Pokémon held in its arms a sealed cardboard box, large enough to contain a pair of shoes. It _only_ had its helmet on, coming from the battle armor that it often wears. The helmet provided night vision, which guided Mewtwo across the night sky.

Mewtwo, eyeing the empty coffee table within Room 29-6, used TELEPORT to transport the package it held and placed it on top of the coffee table.

"(Farwell…Xeno. We'll meet again, once I find my purpose in life.)" Mewtwo thought before looking up into the starry night sky.

Once all was said and done, it flew away at _extremely_ high speeds, apparently abandoning all that it had around it.

In only a few hours, it was already away from Kanto, flying high above the sea, which was only visible to Mewtwo through the helmet that it had on. The helmet, aside from its application to Mewtwo's eyes, also protected its eyes from the wind resistance. Its ears however, were protected with a thin psychic barrier, to prevent aural discomfort.

Mewtwo, to pass the time, kept its adroit mind occupied with the topics of purpose and destiny. The way the Genetic Pokémon saw it, Lucario _had_ a purpose in his life, and Mewtwo has _yet_ to find one.

Since the moment it first had consciousness within the sea base laboratory from which it was grown and developed within, it has denied the purpose that anyone around it has told it, destroying the sea base laboratory, along with all of its human scientists, in the process. It strongly believes that purpose has to be self-found, not manipulated by others.

Mewtwo can still clearly recall the events that led to Mewtwo _finally_ leaving Team Rocket. It rested a bit within the backstage of the Viridian Gym, allowing time for its armor to recharge and upload into Team Rocket's database. The topic of destiny rose within its mind and was made audible through telepathy. Giovanni, hearing Mewtwo question its purpose in life, vilifies Mewtwo by saying its purpose in life is to serve _him_, because that's what it was _created_ for. Mewtwo, refusing to accept that truth, denies Giovanni's view of its destiny, and vindictively obliterates the _entire_ Viridian Gym. Not caring at all if Giovanni was alive or not, it fled away from Viridian City, carrying its party of Pokémon, and losing all of its armor to the wind, except for its helmet.

In finally escaping from Team Rocket, Mewtwo believes that it has opened the path to its destiny. What Giovanni said about it, that it was created _only_ to serve and be _enslaved_ by him, held more meaning once Mewtwo viewed it in greater detail: Giovanni, a _human_, controls Mewtwo, a _Pokémon_.

When zoomed out and enveloping a greater perspective, _humanity_ controls _Pokémon_. Pokémon _Trainers_ use _Pokémon_ in battles. The _human_ world uses and relies on Pokémon for much of their daily life.

Mewtwo only wondered why Giovanni had _Pokémon_ control other _Pokémon_, which is why Mewtwo passed by Team Rocket Main Headquarters to deliver a package to Lucario. The cardboard box holds what Mewtwo has decided to abandon, knowing that they'll be better off with him than with it.

"(If Pokémon are controlled by humans, then what would happen if I _swapped_ those two roles?)" Mewtwo thought, over the shallow hissing of the mountain wind across the helmet on its face. "(What would occur to the planet if _Pokémon_ controlled humanity? Where would I begin if I desired to commence this idea?)"

Mewtwo instantaneously answered this question within its mind.

"(My mind is superior to _any_ human mind, thank Arceus for that. I'll figure out where to begin and I'll get results, _quickly_ rather than slowly.)"

As Mewtwo traveled across this massive ocean at ludicrous speeds, it never bothered to sense what was hovering within the area.

About a thousand feet above Mewtwo's general location, two entities hovered stagnantly above the body of water. These two individuals were in no ways Pokémon, and neither were they human.

They weren't even of this _planet_.

To describe their appearance concisely, they appeared to be disembodied _hands_, one left-handed and the other right-handed, white and gloved. The right-handed hand appeared calm and composed, while the left-handed glove appeared erratic and spontaneous.

Their telepathic dialogue further supported their nature.

"_What about _that_ Pokémon?_" The left-handed white glove spoke with an eerily maniacal tone of voice, waving each and every one of its five fingers with an irregular relationship. "_How do you think it'd perform with the others?_"

"_Based on what I've seen,_" The right-handed white glove spoke with much thought in its words. "_It'd perform admirably if we decided to take it with us now._"

All of a sudden, the left-handed hand curled up into a fist and shook uncontrollably. "_So what are we waiting for? Let's go recruit that Pokémon right now!_"

The left-handed glove suddenly decided to rocket forward, following where Mewtwo decided to travel. It moved with surprising speed as it soared through the air, while unexplainably shooting rocket exhaust from its wrist.

However, its right-handed counterpart was quick to respond to this. It shaped its digits to emulate the appearance—as well as the aerodynamics—of an arrowhead, and followed after the left-handed glove.

Before the left-handed glove knew it, it was caught by its counterpart. The right-handed glove had all five of its fingers wrapped around the fist that was its mirror image, similar to a ball thrown and caught by its receiver.

"_Settle down, my crazy doppelganger._" The right handed glove said before releasing its grip on the left-handed glove. "_Now is not yet appropriate for us to do so. Mewtwo has yet to unwind the convoluted threads that plague its mind. If we decide to take it with us, it won't fight as creditably as it should._"

"_So what should we do about it?_" the left-handed glove inquired, unwinding from its coiled state of being.

"_We wait for it to settle its conflicts._" The right-handed glove spoke sagaciously. "_And then we'll return and present ourselves before the Genetic Pokémon._"

"_Aw man…_" The left-handed glove moaned childishly. "_Just because you're the master to this galactic tournament you're holding, doesn't mean that you can boss me around and keep me locked onto your metaphorical handcuffs._"

"_I must,_" The right-handed glove admitted. "_You'd get the both of us in a surplus of trouble if I let you roam around, performing all sorts of mischief without my restrictive supervision._"

Both hands, once their conversation ended, clasped themselves together and formed the shape of a rocket. Pointing the tips of their fingers upward at the night sky, they launched themselves away from this planet and off into the cosmos.

* * *

><p><em><span>11.3: Sudden Departure<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6

Date: October 15th, 2011 (10/15/11)

Time: 8:10 AM

The package on top of the coffee table was immediately noticed by the Aura Pokémon, once he awakened from his slumber.

"(How queer…)" Lucario thought upon realization of the package.

Once he retrieved the package with his paws and sat down on the living room's sofa, he examined the box in greater detail.

"(No sender address…)" Lucario noticed, eyeing only the brownness of the cardboard that the box was shaped from. "(Who sent me this?)"

With his left hand-spike, Lucario rends the taped ends of the package and exposes the contents of the box before his heightened sanguine eyes. Within the box existed three main items: an envelope, four Poké Balls of varying designs and functions, and an adjustable belt with slots on the side for inserting up to ten Poké Balls, five on the left side and five on the right side.

The four Poké Balls, with their familiar designs, sharp as ever despite their compacted ping-pong ball size, instantly struck Lucario psychosomatically.

"(These Poké Balls… They can't possibly be…)" Lucario, before speculating on an _extremely_ likely conjecture, decided to examine the envelope in greater detail.

Lucario retrieved the envelope and set the package beside him. The envelope was as blank and anonymous as the package that it was stored within. He opened the envelope in much the same way as he did with the package, with his hand-spike.

With one quick swipe, Lucario gashed the corner of the letter and gutted the folded sheet of paper within it. The paper, once Lucario unfolded it, was typed and compacted almost to the point of flooding over the margins. He began to read it slowly and carefully, so as to not miss anything important.

_To the enigmatic Aura Pokémon that I've worked alongside with under Team Rocket:_

"(Mewtwo,)" Lucario thought, already knowing whom the letter was written by. "(Who else writes with this much sophistication?)"

He continued reading.

_ Within the contents of this box exists four Pok__é__ Balls: Charmeleon's Level Ball, Dusknoir's Dusk Ball, Luxray's Nest Ball, and Tyranitar's Premier Ball. Alongside my Pokémon party and their respective storage capsules, you'll encounter this letter, encased within a blank envelope, as well as an adjustable utility belt that can hold up to ten Pok__é__ Balls._

_ Knowing you and your impeccable sense of curiosity, you'll wonder _why_ I bestowed upon you the four Pokémon of my party. I have two reasons for doing so. My first reason is one that you have already comprehended: I chose my party _primarily_ to satisfy your need to escape with as many Pokémon as physically possible. My second reason is beneficial to your eventual escape. Simply put, there's strength in numbers, and you'll require their assistance in whatever tactic you have pondered._

_ I've left you this letter because this is the final time that you and I can remain in contact. Within the Viridian Gym, I finally took it upon myself to _defy _Giovanni. Once he vilified my purpose in life—which he believes is for me to serve him as a weapon of war that _he_ had created for his personal use—, I decided to fly away. In doing so, I vehemently obliterated the Viridian Gym in my wake. I can no longer return to Team Rocket after my actions, nor do I desire doing so._

_ What purpose would I have in serving under _him _anyway?_

_ However, despite Giovanni's uncanny ability to have _all_ Pokémon despise him, I must give credit to him where credit is due. You have Giovanni to thank for my creation, and in a sense, you have us _both_ to thank for burying him under his own Gym. Whether Giovanni _survived_ the destruction of the Viridian Gym or not is a topic that I have no answer to._

_ Now on my own, I plan on searching for what I've never found and wish to acquire: my destiny in life._

_ I believe that destiny is self-earned and self-realized, and that no one can _degrade_ it or _manipulate_ it, as Giovanni did with my personal destiny. However, I do believe that it can be realized by others selflessly, which is why I've fully realized _your_ destiny, as you have exposed it clearly with your plans for your future._

"(My destiny…?)" Lucario was somewhat puzzled by this.

_I can concur that your purpose in life is to liberate Pokémon from oppressive malice. Your goal, to evacuate Team Rocket with as many Pokémon as possible, has made your destiny acknowledged by me._

_ If only my purpose was as clear as yours…_

_ Despite my apparent inattention to your "Team Liberator" concept, I still hope that your plan to eventually escape from Team Rocket comes into action. You possess a _surplus_ of intelligence, enough for me to regard, that can easily guide you in your goal. As long as you remain calm across your decisive moments, your escape is guaranteed._

_ …And as for me and my future._

_ I plan on changing the world. I wish to see the roles of humanity and Pokémon swap places. The effects of this should prove interesting. The time for this to occur should be brief. And when I've successfully done so, I'll find you. For your sake, I hope that you've escaped by then._

_ P.S.:_

_ Despite my proficient intellect and adept sophistication, my actual _age_ tells a different story about my experience in life. As of the first day of October, approximately two weeks ago, I've had a second year added to my life. In my first year of life, I was under scientific development, albeit I gained consciousness before my second year in life, when Giovanni assimilated me into Team Rocket._

_ I'm only 744 days of age, when I informed you through this missive, and I already possess the intellect of a supercomputer, which you know already. What a shame then, that human infants at my age are only capable of _existing, and nothing more.

_ What a lackluster species, the human race is. How they reign supreme as the dominant species over this planet is beyond my comprehension._

"…" Lucario had a surplus of information to assimilate in one sitting, so he began to process Mewtwo's letter and dissect the most important facts.

Mewtwo bestowed its party of Pokémon to Lucario in order for them to aid him in his eventual escape. Out of spite, it decimated the Viridian Gym, apparently burying Giovanni underneath the detritus rubble. It fled from the scene and wisely abandoned Team Rocket, knowing no mercy will come if it accepts its actions. Lacking purpose in life, Mewtwo attempted to find its destiny, as Lucario has already done. Mewtwo believes that to find its purpose in life, it must flip the world's order of humanity and Pokémon on its head. Once this is in effect, Mewtwo will find Lucario, hoping that it has escaped by then.

Also, Mewtwo is somehow only two years and two weeks of age, and would effortlessly outmode a supercomputer.

It's quite a shock to Lucario, whom always believed Mewtwo's age to reflect its wisdom.

"(Everyone else should know of this,)" Lucario pondered before setting the letter temporarily aside. He retrieved the shrunken quartet of delivered Poké Balls, and retrieved his quartet of Poké Balls through telekinetic abilities. In one swift throw upward with psychic abilities, all eight Pokémon was released from their particular Poké Balls.

Once everyone was rematerialized outside, Lucario stood up from his comfortable sofa and explained to them the contents of Mewtwo's letter, not abandoning _any_ important details. He even included mentioning Mewtwo's age, which came as a shock to everybody, as it was equally shocking to him.

Overall, the reactions to Mewtwo's bon voyage were varied. Mewtwo's _former_ party of Pokémon reacted with more stalwart outbursts of emotion than Lucario's party of Pokémon. Mewtwo's former Charmeleon reacted negatively with more vigor, since it was Mewtwo's newest Pokémon. Lucario, as if his purpose in life guided him, mollified their feelings and assured them of the fact that they weren't abandoned by Mewtwo, but merely passed on to a trustworthy Pokémon that was _knowingly_ inherited four powerful Pokémon. This tactic helped significantly, however the true effects of emotional recovery are apparent in time.

Lucario, once his attempt at emotional mollification proved helpful, began to ponder and question—of _all_ possible things—, the constitution of Giovanni. Based on the information provided on Mewtwo's letter, Lucario knows that Giovanni was present inside of the Viridian Gym during the exact moment Mewtwo turned vindictive and reduced the building to rubble. The only missing piece of the incident was the condition of Giovanni, whether he was alive or—as Lucario _hoped_—dead.

"(If Giovanni is _dead,_ then…)" Lucario sat down on the sofa and rested his chin on the knuckles of both of his paws, "(…the resulting echo of the news reaching the Team Rocket organization would prove chaotic.)"

Lucario could already imagine the chaos erupting within Team Rocket. He could imagine the Grunts clawing for a vacant slot in power, machinery mutilating confused workers, and captured Pokémon slaughtering their "masters" before escaping from the insanity. This mental picture caused him to grin, with his paws masking the grin and keeping it out of the view of the other Pokémon, whom were talking amongst themselves as to where Mewtwo could've possibly gone.

Lucario's grin disappeared once he realized the second side of this metaphorical coin.

"(However, if Giovanni is still alive, then Team Rocket will still operate normally… Or would it?)" Lucario pondered a possible outcome.

If Giovanni is _still_ alive despite the premature burial from the Viridian Gym's collapse, then he would most likely come back on a stretcher, transported via helicopter to the Infirmary Ward of Team Rocket Main Headquarters. He's almost guaranteed in succumbing to _some_ sort of injury, be it a broken bone, collapsed lung, or significant hemorrhaging. If this is the case, then Team Rocket would enter a brief state of hibernation, with their leader recovering under close observation.

"(Whether Giovanni is still alive or not, Team Rocket will retard. However, will I be able to use that gateway to actually formulate my _escape_?)"

Before Lucario could continue pondering, his ears twitched with the sensing of a familiar sound. The same sound that he heard before leaving the forest above Celadon City, as well as the same sound that he hears every time he travels under Team Rocket. The same _whirring_ sound that rotating propellers fueled by a powerful motor make. The same _gyrating_ sound made upon lift-off and landing…

These are the sounds of a helicopter.

Everyone, whether sitting down and relaxing or talking amongst each other as to where Mewtwo could've gone to, proceeded to the windows of Room 29-6. Through the looking glass, they were all able to notice a descending helicopter, one of a different color. Aside from the helicopters painted "stealth black", with a big red capital "R" on the right side, this helicopter was white, with an equally large and red "+" on the right side. This helicopter was the equivalent of an ambulance.

The ambulance helicopter, once it descended and parked itself on the parking area—marked with a capital "H" within a circle—, was immediately awaited by a dozen nurses and Team Rocket Grunts. The gale-causing gyratory of the propellers quelled and subsided in seconds, before the side doors of the ambulance helicopter opened.

Carefully, the Grunts within the ambulance helicopter passed a stretcher, with someone strapped onto it, to the impending Grunts and nurses below.

Both Lucario and Wanderer, with their intrinsic Aura Vision ability, activated it and zoomed in onto the person on the stretcher. As the stretcher's wheels touched the concrete below them, both Lucario and Wanderer identified the victim in need of medical attention.

The victim is Giovanni.

"_He's still alive?_" Wanderer spoke inadvertently, receiving the attention and disappointment of the Pokémon beside it. "_How did Giovanni survive the rubble burial that Mewtwo bestowed upon him as a departing gift?_"

"(So _you're_ still alive, then?)" Lucario thought, before disabling his Aura Vision ability, and then walking away from the window and towards the entrance door.

Wanderer sensed this action through Aura Vision. It turned its ability off, pivoted its body to face Lucario and said to him "_Where are you going?_" with a higher tone of volume.

The Aura Pokémon paused when his paw was coiled around the doorknob. "_Where do you think?_" Lucario didn't look back to his speaker and simply opened the door and left the room.

"…" Wanderer turned back to the window and looked down, noticing that Giovanni was nowhere to be seen below. Knowing where Giovanni is heading towards albeit, it didn't bother re-activating its Aura Vision ability to scan for his location. It also realized that Lucario was heading to Giovanni's location, for his own imperative reasons.

"_Do you believe that today marks the day of our breakout?_" Dusknoir, whom was adjacent to Wanderer, spoke to it.

"_I have a deep feeling in my stomach that we'll all escape soon._" Wanderer, as if the feeling that it spoke of was actually physical and existent in its heart, placed its right paw onto its chest-spike, being careful not to poke itself.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 10): Infirmary Ward<span>

Date: October 15th, 2011 (10/15/11)

Time: 9:02 AM

Lucario, as he was running down the stairs using EXTREMESPEED, couldn't help but wonder if anyone else was visiting Giovanni for other reasons distant to his own. He wondered if there was an immense collection of other Team Rocket Grunts, flooding Giovanni's quarters to the point of overflowing out of the hallways.

He stopped in front of the door that separated the stairway from the hallway of Floor 10, never losing the mental image that he might have to postpone his visit to Giovanni.

"(*Gulp*)"

To his surprise, Lucario was actually growing anxious _before_ facing Giovanni. The reason for this was clear to him: he was beginning to _defy_ him, after over a year of accustoming himself to listening and obeying his constant orders. He never thought that he'd feel this way. He found himself astonished at the fact that he had grown used to Giovanni keeping him on a leash.

His heartbeat pounded away at his eardrums, but he paid little thought to this. He set this aside in order to open the door before him, and to his surprise, there was only one person present within the hallway. A nurse whom was leaving the room previously entered.

Lucario approached the person and asked if this was Giovanni's room. The nurse calmly responds by saying that Giovanni is resting and shouldn't be disturbed now.

"_It's important that I speak to him. I have my reasons for doing so._" Lucario seemed unaware that a small amount of his existent anxiety was amplifying the tone of his telepathic voice.

"The Boss needs his rest. You'll just have to wait 'till later." The nurse was as solid as a rock, unmoving and fortified.

"_I _must_ speak to him! As Admin of Team Rocket, I won't accept—_"

Both the offensive Aura Pokémon and the defending nurse were suddenly silenced by the sounds of the door opening alongside them both. Giovanni, the only resident of the room he was staying in to recover, pulled the door towards him and to his side, eyeing both Lucario and the nurse.

Lucario now noticed the full extent of Giovanni's injuries. Aside from the light blue patient uniform—marked with a red "R" on the left shoulder area—that all recovering patients wore within the Infirmary Ward of this HQ building, Giovanni also had signs of considerable injury all around his body. Giovanni wore a cast on his left arm, as well as his right leg—although he didn't wish to use a crutch to walk. He had bandages wrapped all around his torso, as well as on the top of his head, noticeable signs of moderate bruising of the abdomen and cranium. Giovanni also had patches of cloth taped onto his left cheek and right shoulder, to cover the more significant lacerations.

Physically, he felt like crap, however he didn't feel this way emotionally.

"'The Boss needs his rest,' you say. 'You'll just have to wait 'till later,' you say…" Giovanni spoke with a tone that vilified the nurse. "If that's the case, then why am I _standing_ on my feet before the both of you?"

"…" The nurse, wanting to say "Sir, you _need_ your rest", remained silent and subservient, not having the gallantness to speak out of term.

"(Respect my authority,)" Lucario trailed off, briefly imagining how Giovanni's mind works.

"No one else knows how my body works but _me_. Just because my right leg's broken, that doesn't mean that it's _completely_ useless. You may go on with your occupation now. That's an order."

The nurse walked away and down the stairs, with a metaphorical tail between the legs, as if severely demoralized.

Lucario began to speak with hollow concern. "_Are you able to walk back to your bed?_"

"I've still got my _left_ leg unmarred, don't I?" Giovanni spoke with leader-like authority.

Lucario shrugged his shoulders, and then they both walked—or _limped_, in Giovanni's case—to the recovery bed. Lucario, for no reason that he could ponder, asked to help Giovanni get back on his bed. Giovanni instinctively said no, preferring not to be in a position of weakness.

"_Your mood seems rather stable, despite your current constitution,_" Lucario said, well aware of Giovanni's injuries.

"I recently escaped death. I should be content that I'm still breathing." He said before strapping his casted right leg to the harness above his feet.

Lucario was about to say what he primarily wanted to say to Giovanni, however…

"You're here to ask about Mewtwo, right? Where it is and why it isn't here with me?" The Team Rocket Boss suspected.

"(Impressive speculation for a human with no extrasensory perception,)" Lucario thought briefly before saying "_Yes, that's correct._"

Giovanni, instead of answering Lucario's question firstly, decided to ask him a question.

"Tell me this: what do you know about chess?" Giovanni slowly bent his bruised abdomen to his right side, reaching his unmarred right hand to the side drawer of his recovery bed.

"(There's purpose in this…)" Lucario chose not to read his mind and answered his question in detail. "_The game of chess originated in the year—_"

"I meant the _basics_ of the game, not its origin." Giovanni growled in correcting him.

"_Chess is only playable with two players. Each player commands an army of 16 pieces that are placed on an eight-by-eight grid of adjacent black and white spaces. The pieces consist of eight pawns, two bishops, two knights, two rooks, one queen, and one king. One player commands white pieces and the other player commands black pieces. The object of the game is to defeat your opponent by successfully performing an inexorable checkmate on their respective king piece._" Lucario recalls well what he learned from his frequent matches with Mewtwo while playing chess. "_What purpose does this topic serve?_"

Giovanni, during Lucario's explanation, retrieved the chess set that he had within the drawer and had the chess pieces set up in their normal positions. The chess set was placed on top of a moveable table, and was properly suited for the hospital bed that Giovanni was resting on.

"Why don't you relax and play one quick game of chess with me. I would like to see how you compare to Mewtwo in terms of dexterity. I'll allow you to go first." Giovanni suggested.

Lucario didn't question Giovanni's reasons for choosing to play chess with him. He agreed to play one round, _primarily_ because Giovanni said that he played against Mewtwo. Part of him wanted to see how he compared to Mewtwo in terms of technique, and this chance to know what an opponent's opinion on the _both_ of them was proved alluring enough to distract Lucario.

"_I have all day, I suppose,_" he submitted himself to Giovanni's game.

_Ten Minutes Later…_

Lucario was much more used to individual rounds of chess to last no more than a few minutes because Mewtwo would always defeat him by then. Against a human opponent however, who had a reduced, yet adaptive intellect, he spent more time playing one round than four rounds against Mewtwo.

Time, however, was of no concern for the Aura Pokémon, because he patiently subjugated all of Giovanni's black pieces and left only one black king piece to face the stalwart force of _ten_ of Lucario's remaining white chess pieces.

"How predictable," Giovanni said once the match ended, beginning to stockpile all of the chess pieces away within the chess set's compact drawer. "You defeat me in chess because of your greater skill."

"_How do I compare to Mewtwo?_" Lucario seemed uninterested in his victory over Giovanni.

"Mewtwo can leave a few more pieces on the board. Ten pieces seems to be your limit, on intermediate players anyway."

Lucario shrugged with a half-opened eye countenance, somewhat satisfied with Giovanni's compliment, but not forgetting about his primary purpose for _being_ here.

"_Now, about Mewtwo…_" Lucario began.

Giovanni was left with six chess pieces remaining on top of the chess board, all of them different from each other.

"You should know this already, but would rather have it confirmed to you, right?"

Lucario simply nodded.

"I see," Giovanni understood. "It's as clear as your recent victory that Mewtwo has gone with the wind."

"(I knew it,)" Lucario thought without surprise.

"It left after hearing my remark 'your purpose is to serve me' and soon _eradicated_ my Viridian Gym. Mewtwo _chose_ to leave me for dead apparently, underneath the rubble burial that the building once was."

"(I knew it,)" Lucario repeated this phrase mentally.

"However, like chess, there are pieces in the game that are _necessary_ to sacrifice in order to achieve your objective."

"(What did you just say?)" Lucario fumed a bit within his mind, clearly concerned over the importance of Mewtwo. With an elevated tone Lucario said "_So to Team Rocket, Mewtwo was merely a pawn?_"

"Not necessarily."

Giovanni looked at the six chess pieces remaining on the chess board and noticed Lucario did the same. He retrieved all six of the unique pieces and clutched them within his right hand.

"Chess and Team Rocket have enough similarities for me to juxtapose them to you. For example:"

Giovanni placed the pawn piece down on the board, on the second row in front of him.

"The Grunts of Team Rocket are the pawns in chess. Both you and Mewtwo were _once_ Grunts."

He then began to move the pawn piece forward along the board, hopping it across each black and white square in front of it, stopping it once it has reached the end of the board.

"Through enough experience and progress, the pawn can be promoted to a higher level. In Team Rocket's case, the Grunts become Administrators—or Admins for short. Both of you have reached this level of progress and have been promoted."

Giovanni put the pawn away within the drawer of the chess set, not needing it again, and then placed four pieces on the board, excluding the king for now.

"In chess, the pawn is promoted to any one of these four pieces: the bishop, knight, queen, or rook. However, not all pawns reach this authority, nor are they all supposed to, as it is in chess with the number of each piece."

Lucario listened onward, knowing that Giovanni is establishing a connection.

"The knight of chess is like the technology of Team Rocket. Our technology supports us and transcends us, allowing us all to perform _beyond_ our normal limitations."

Giovanni demonstrated how the knight moves in an "L" shape and how it can hop over other pieces. He then put the knight piece away within the drawer, and then separated the queen piece from the bishop piece and the rook piece.

"_Where does Mewtwo fall under this juxtaposition? What about _me?" Lucario asked.

"Do you still recall my previous words: 'The Grunts of Team Rocket are the pawns in chess' and 'both you and Mewtwo were _once_ Grunts.'?"

"_Yes._"

"I was getting there," Giovanni eyed the bishop piece. "Mewtwo is the bishop in chess, while you are the rook."

Giovanni moved both pieces according to the chess rules permitting them to do so. He moved the bishop piece diagonally in its four possible directions, only across the colors of the square that it stood on. He then moved the rook piece horizontally across its four directions, moving it across all four corners of the board.

"_Is it because of our different fighting styles?_" Lucario said what was on his mind. "_Mewtwo prefers stagnant long-range combat and I favor rigorous close-range combat?_"

"It's nice to know that we're _both_ on the same page." Giovanni was told what he was about to say and then put the three pieces away within the drawer.

…_Including_ the queen piece.

The king piece, the last and most important piece of the six, was released from his hand and placed in the center of the chess board, demonstrating how the king pieces can only move, in every direction, one space.

"Can you tell me _what_, in Team Rocket, the king piece represents?"

"_I'm _looking_ at him,_" Lucario's response was instantaneous when he eyed Giovanni.

"Good. Good." Giovanni put the king piece away within the drawer of the chess set and moved the table to his side.

Lucario noticed that Giovanni was forgetting something. "_You neglected the queen piece._"

"I don't believe I did. I have no wife." Giovanni, this time, responded instantaneously and bogusly.

"…" Part of Lucario thought that Giovanni was lying and purposely neglecting to compare the chess game's queen piece to something of Team Rocket. However, Lucario had one question in his mind that he had to ask Giovanni, and he wouldn't allow for any further topical digressions to happen.

"Is there anything more on your mind?"

"_Only one last topic,_" Lucario briefly lifted one finger in the air. "_In chess, the player's goal is to declare checkmate on their opponent, effectively winning the game. How does the goal in chess compare to the goal of Team Rocket? I've been working here for over a year and know for a _fact_ that world domination is the goal of Team Rocket, however I've never known _how_ Team Rocket—_you_—plan on achieving that goal._"

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Giovanni said.

Lucario was suddenly made slightly confused. "_What do you mean?_"

"Let me start with what makes Team Rocket exist," Giovanni paused briefly to think his words over. "Pokémon are the main reason why we, as a criminal organization, exist and prosper. Pokémon_—you_ for example_—_provide us with a surplus of labor and wealth that keeps Team Rocket running stably. With one Pokémon, we can capture many more, doing with them as we wish, which is something that you have some experience with."

"(Don't go there…)" Lucario thought, still recovering from the sessions where he had to kill the surplus of Team Rocket's captured Pokémon.

"Did you know that both you and Mewtwo, throughout your entire career in Team Rocket, have captured more Pokémon _combined_ than the rest of the organization has in five years? Because of this, we've now actually had to resort to storing _three_ Pokémon within a single holding cell."

"(No wonder the holding cells are practically overflowing with Pokémon,)" Lucario thought.

"All of the Pokémon in Team Rocket, once at a sufficient level of strength, will be used as an army for Team Rocket's Master Plan," Giovanni's lips curled upward to form a stiff smile. "The Master Plan is to take over the world, by overthrowing each and every region's Elite Four _and_ eight Gym Leaders, the political powerhouses of the region's respective Pokémon League."

The Elite Four? Pokémon League? Lucario has never heard of these topics, and has entirely no idea what they are. The only thing Lucario knows is that Giovanni is the leader of the Viridian _Gym_. However, he knows nothing of how it works outside the field of battling. All he assumed that it was is a building for he and Mewtwo to spar against other Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon.

"Once overthrown, the world will kneel before _me_, the _boss_ of the new ubiquitous power of Team Rocket!" Giovanni spoke with sudden drama and triumph. "No one will be stronger than or greater than _me_, because I'll be as omnipotent as a god!"

Lucario stood mildly uneasy, hearing Giovanni suddenly shout in the recovery room. His hyper-perceptive ears were ringing slightly with Giovanni's bold and confident tone of voice. Lucario resisted the urge to rub the inside of his ears, hoping that eases the unpleasant ringing.

"Anything else you want to know? I'm all ears right now." Giovanni's tone of voice reverted back to an easy and nonchalant state. "Or maybe you'd like to play another round of chess with me."

Lucario, almost as if some part of him was out of his control, agreed to play another round of chess with the recovering boss of Team Rocket. Without him knowing, one extra game became two, then four, and then eight. Lucario found himself playing until the clock read 11:15 in the morning. Once done, Lucario said his farewell to Giovanni, and returned up to his own room, pondering deeply about escaping or not.

Giovanni decided to get some rest, knowing that the sooner he recovers, the quicker he can get back on his occupation. Before actually _falling_ asleep, however, he had this to think.

"(Knowing Xeno's curiosity, I would've expected it to show more interest in what the queen piece of chess represents for Team Rocket. Oh well… It'll know soon enough anyway, especially since it'll likely follow the path that Mewtwo left behind for it to follow.)"

Giovanni decided to trail off a bit in thought, a combination of words forming within his mind.

"(The path of the aura, one that Mewtwo left behind from its choice of actions, one that Xeno Lucario will likely pick up on.)"

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6<span>

Date: October 15th, 2011 (10/15/11)

Time: 11:22 AM

"So how was he?" Terra asked.

"Was he in a full body cast?" Luxray wondered.

"_Did he break any bones?_" Wanderer questioned.

"_Or did they perform surgical treatment on him._" Dusknoir inquired.

"Was he inflicted with third-degree burns?" Aqua asked.

"Did they patch his face with the skin off of his ass?" Tyranitar chuckled under its words.

"What did Mewtwo do to him?" Charmander spoke.

"Did Mewtwo…kill him?" Lairon spoke ultimately.

Lucario was immediately swarmed by his fellow Pokémon and bombarded with their questions, all of which wondered about Giovanni's current circumstance. "_He's very much alive, but not kicking heartily._" Lucario began to explain. "_He had a cast on his left arm and right leg. He was bandaged around the top of his head and his abdomen due to moderate bruising. He only had a couple of bandages for the lacerations on his left cheek and right shoulder as well._"

"…" The Pokémon were suddenly made silent. Their hopes of finally escaping team Rocket seemed to drain out of them faster than their stamina when training.

All except for Lairon, who imperturbably had this to say: "How long…until he's fully recovered?"

_Showdown at Hollow Bastion/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD6 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Lucario faced his fellow Pokémon and knelt down closer to the Iron Armor Pokémon's level of height "_We have long enough, for us _all_ to escape._"

The hopes that Lucario had unwillingly drained earlier surged back to the Pokémon once more. The looks on their faces shows clear signs of excitement or satisfaction.

"_When will we escape then?_" Wanderer approached Lucario and stood to his right side.

Lucario stood upright once more and stalwartly said "_Tonight. We'll escape under the cover of night, and with _every_ Pokémon within the basement floors._"

The surrounding Pokémon were left almost agape at Lucario's sky high hopes.

"And does the dark-furred Aura Pokémon have a plan?" Tyranitar spoke with crossed arms and with a tone as serious as its skin is dry.

"_No, but it won't take me long to formulate a plan prior to our nighttime escape._"

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p>"When you wish to have someone commit treason, it's best to look first among known traitors." —Orson Scott Card (373) ("<em><span>Xenocide<span>__"_)

* * *

><p>Oh man... Things are starting to heat up on the Pokémon's side of this story. Now is the time for Xeno Lucario and his party of eight to make their escape.<p>

And as for Mewtwo...

I'm sure some of you already know who I'm talking about when I put in those disembodied white gloved hands. However, for those who don't, I'll just give you these two key words:

"Crazy" and "Master".

Anyway, that is all for now and thank you for reading. Please review if you are able to. It's not recommended, but I'd heavily appreciate it.

Also, if you all spot any grammatical errors within this story, let me know. Kalakar did so through a review and I corrected the errors in less than a minute upon learning of my mental slip-up. I know I try hard to make this read as streamlined as possible, but sometimes I might slip up.

My biggest grammatical problem would have to be the use of gender-specific pronouns when referring to the Pokémon. I would often use "he" instead of "it".

Of course, that doesn't apply to Xeno Lucario, whom I stated that I'd reference as a "he" back in my second chapter.

Good-bye and until next time.

...Oh wait, one last thing.

I mentioned that I was writing far ahead of what I upload. For those who are curious, I put up a progress note of this onto my profile page. It's difficult to not notice. It's directly under the first sentence on my profile page, the one that lists when I'd be putting my next update. That'll get updated regularly, so it'd be alright of you to look that up from time to time. Once again, it's not mandatory. It's just there to remind you all that I'm dedicated to this story and willing to see it done.

And then taken many steps further.

...

...

...

Okay, NOW it's good-bye.

Or as we say in Spanish: Adios!


	12. Chapter VI (6)

Huh... Now _this_ is interesting...

Ever since my last update, where I added "Chapter IV (4)" and "Chapter V (5)", my story stats have just been FLOODED! I average 10-20 views to my story daily. And at this moment, I'm currently at 1,474. I know that in the future it'll continue to go up.

My profile page has also shown signs that its being noticed at a greater rate. Although I can only guess what you all look at _specifically _within there, I can assume that at least every part of it has been seen at one point or another.

Now, as I (almost) always do with any new chapter(s), there a a couple of new songs that I put in for you to (optionally) listen to, improving your view of the written situation. One of those songs comes from _Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories_, for the PS2. The second is the prison theme (the orchestrated version) from _Final Fantasy Tactics_ _Advance_, for the GBA.

It's funny, but I'm actually playing _FFTA_ at this current moment. I'm about 70+ hours in, 75% finished with the game, and loving every part of it, even though I've beaten it a few times before.

I'm glad I choose not to sell my older video game consoles (Game Boy Color, DS Lite, DSi, PS1, PS2, PSP) when I buy new consoles (3DS). I'm actually quite protective of whatever I own, so long as I see some value in them. Family members, collectibles (Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards), pets, etc.

But anyway, I'm digressing from this new chapter, and I should focus on that. I remember that I stated how I would focus on Xeno Lucario's viewpoint for four chapters.

Now it's time to return to Eduardo's side of the story.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter VI (6): The OSS (Optical Surveillance Sphere)<strong>

_About nine years and four months later…_

Location: 28N, 34E

Date: January 1st, 60 A.D.

Time: 9:44 AM

Eduardo's Age: Twenty-seven

A sufficient amount of time has passed after two main incidents in my life: my banishment from my home village, as well as the sable-scaled dragon that I clashed with. Both events remained cemented into my mind, integrated into my experiences, and fresh within my memory.

The events that unfolded back at my home village, after defeating Mercury's Roman legion of 999 soldiers with awakened powers I never thought that I possessed. Wielding three elements—fire, lightning, and water—and manipulating my body to handle specific traits—physical, beneficial, and mental—, all six of which I utilized under the self-named Elemental Aura abilities under my disposal.

Ultimately, the village that I protected decided to banish me, never thinking otherwise of my opinion on the matter. My brothers, Costas and Ian, I'll likely never see again.

The sable-scaled dragon that appeared from seemingly nowhere, flying vehemently towards me of all people on this planet, as I fed a small group of green iguanas and white cockatoos that had unknowingly turned alien within a habitat away from their natural. That massive winged lizard, I clashed with two new weapons of mine—the Penta-dent Mark II and Gauntlet Shield—, as well as three new elements that I learned through my Elemental Aura abilities—wind, nature, and earth.

I dissevered the dragon's night-like body into three sanguine segments—the head, body, and tail. And yet despite that, it managed to knock me out when my guard was down, and disappeared into the same aura of mystery that it came from. Its parting gift was leaving me blind in my left eye, which I've covered with a black eye patch ever since.

Those two events, I pondered temporarily as I was dedicating my time working on a new "S-Rank" invention, my _third_ "S-Rank" invention: the S3-OSS device—the "OSS" standing for "Optical Surveillance Sphere". And unlike my S1-GS device or my S2-PTSDO device, the S3-OSS device is best made with _quantity_ alongside quality. A set of twenty-six individual S3-OSS devices is what I had planned in manufacturing it.

I resided—much to my better judgment—in the _exact_ same area where I encountered the dragon, as well as the odd placement of five green iguanas and five white cockatoos. The animals that I have befriended were living in tranquility within the massive Berry tree that I planted, a tree substituting the one that the sable-scaled dragon burned down during our former clash.

The equipment that I had present on the field included a work desk, welding equipment, and multiple sets of massive machinery, all of which served a purpose.

The work desk, with a comfortable chair that I sat on, was where I manufactured the S3-OSS devices, individually and with considerable speed. On top of the work desk, I have the various components of the internal circuitry of the devices. The welder, which I was utilizing, serves the purpose of connecting the wires and circuitry into the appropriate places, despite the fact that both of them were made of the same material that the machines were producing consecutively.

The machines that I have surrounding me were creating the material utilized for the external shells of the S1-GS device and the S2-PTSDO device—including their internal circuitry. The size of the shells was only one inch in diameter, and came in two sets of hemispheric halves. The machines were manufacturing the last of the fifty-two needed hemispheric shells at the moment, taking more than enough time to allow me to complete these devices.

With the welder, I connected the various components into the shape of a ball, a ball of interwoven wires, microchips, and servos. In the front of the ball of circuitry, I inserted the two _primary_ components of the S3-OSS devices: the camera lens and the microphone. Once welded into place, the end result made the ball of circuitry appear more as if it were an electronic "eye"—with an "ear" inside it. I repeated this twenty-six times in quick succession, never missing a beat.

Once done with the internal structure of the twenty-six individual S3-OSS devices, the machines surrounding me manufactured the remaining required hemispheric shells. I retrieved these fifty-two shells, placed them on my work table, and assimilated the dismissed machinery within my S1-GS device.

The last step was to simply connect two hemispheric separate halves together, with the electronic "eye" inside of them. The process of which took only a few minutes of my time. And after that, I had twenty-six manufactured S3-OSS devices on top of my work table.

All of them, despite being completed, felt too similar in terms of aesthetic appearance. To alter them all and make them individual instead of similar, I retrieved paint from my S1-GS device, deciding to paint each S3-OSS device individually. The paint itself is made with the primary ingredient being the indestructible material that I favor.

If I were to make an error with this paint, I could simply correct it with the rinsing of water. However, the water was only needed in miniscule quantities, such as when I cross a line by a millimeter. Also, with dozens of different colors for paint, I painted unique _premeditated_ designs, based off of what I saw in a dream—the dream being where I originally recalled these designs that I'm painting.

Halfway done with painting, I set a few of the S3-OSS devices aside, allowing their aesthetic design to dry, free of my contact.

While working on this final task, I trailed off and recalled my inspiration for these designs, the dream that I had relating to them.

The inspiration for the designs came from a dream that I had during December of 59 A.D. Within that dream, I visualized a shelf of spherical capsules with buttons in the center, _twenty-six_ in total, all of which were individualistic in aesthetic design. Whether these mentioned spheres served a purpose or not was something that my dream never clarified.

The designs, as well as the quantity of the spheres on the shelf, were what I derived for my twenty-six S3-OSS devices. And because of my 10,000 I.Q. mind, I remembered their designs _perfectly_. Their functions however, speculating that they _have_ a function, and their size, about that of a grapefruit, weren't derived from my dream, and so I disregarded upon manufacturing my S3-OSS devices, which are only _one inch_ in diameter.

On a side note, it wasn't until the moment that I awoke from that same dream that another idea came to my mind, an idea relating to that indestructible material that I forged from the fusion of all known elements.

The material utilized for my "S-Rank" inventions—the omnipotent material that is the product of the fusions of every single element—was never given a proper, suitable _name_ when I first created it. I never decided to give it a name before, unable to find the proper word choice to describe it, and allowed it to remain unnamed until I could ponder a name that wouldn't vilify the material in the least.

At long last, I _finally_ decided to name this material, cementing my self-made title onto my self-made material.

The name that I gave for this material: Auracite.

My reasons for the name: the aura that surrounds us all, the capability that—I believe—it has to overcome any obstacle, if used properly.

And speaking of aura, the time period between today and the fight against the dragon has given me two _new_ Elemental Aura abilities, both of which I acquired through further beneficial amplification of my attributes: Light Blue (Ice) Aura and White (Light) Aura.

_**RENDER ALL WHOM OPPOSE YOU FROZEN TO ABSOLUTE ZERO!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**LIGHT BLUE (ICE) AURA**__**!**_

_**CRYO-KINESIS UNLOCKED!**_

_**HOLY RETRIBUTION TO PURIFY THE EVIL THAT WREATHES THE EARTH WITH LIGHT!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**WHITE (LIGHT) AURA**__**!**_

_**LUSTER-KINESIS UNLOCKED!**_

With Light Blue (Ice) Aura, I can manipulate ice, and freeze practically _anything_ with moisture. I'm also able to tolerate unbearable cold of sub-zero temperatures, those that exist within the remorseless waters of the Arctic and Antarctic seas.

With White (Light) Aura, I'm able to generate a brilliant light—easily capable of searing unprotected eyes to the point of temporary blindness—, create transparent barriers to confound or to rampart, or even condense light into a compact sphere of volatile energy.

With the sum of those two new traits to my power, I now possess _eleven_ inimitable Elemental Aura abilities at my disposal: Red (Fire) Aura, Orange (Melee) Aura, Yellow (Lightning) Aura, Light Green (Wind) Aura, Green (Healing) Aura, Dark Green (Nature) Aura, Light Blue (Ice) Aura, Blue (Water) Aura, Purple (Psychic) Aura, Brown (Earth) Aura, and White (Light) Aura.

Despite my current age of _exactly_ twenty-seven years—today's my birthday, after all—, I only appear to be two-thirds my age, eighteen years old in terms of appearance.

I've accomplished so much in so little time.

One of my accomplishments is fighting that enigmatic dragon, on September 6th, 50 A.D. The lasting injury that it gave me was blindness to my left eye, which was accounted for with an eye patch—which I change twice a year due to eventual wear and tear.

This condition, as much as I grudgingly refused it as concrete, appeared to be permanent. Through many concentrated healing sessions with my Green (Healing) Aura, I was never able to recover from my partial optical blindness.

Perhaps that was a curse that the dragon left behind for me…along with a vague segment of dialogue.

You can't _prevent_ "It", you can't _escape_ from "It", you can't _endure_ against "It".

"(What _is_ 'It'?)", I thought while painting my new "toys". There are thousands of possibilities that I've thought of over the years, but I can never pinpoint what "It" is.

The dragon, with scales that mimic the night sky in terms of darkness… If I fight it again, I'll be sure to make the answers come out of it, by force if I have to. Until then, it's a mystery that's too early to solve, too vague to speculate, and too intertwined into my mind to simply relinquish.

That's one of the questions on my list that I try to find the answers for in my life: Who _truly_ killed my parents? Why do I have these phenomenal Elemental Aura abilities, and a superior intellect to compliment it? Whatever happened to the dragon that I (allegedly) killed? What is this "It" that that dragon is referring to? The beast that I drew a blood-and-dust likeness of based on what I saw in a dream, prior to gaining my Elemental Aura abilities and leaving my home village… What in the world did I see?

Ten-and-a-half years of banishment and wandering around this small world have left me to speculate five answers that most likely answer these questions: The Romans. I may be destined for something important. The dragon could've simply disintegrated without a trace, or perhaps regenerated and abandoned the scene without a trace. It is an unfathomable force, by human standards, that I might have to face in the recent future. It was just a figment of my vibrant imagination.

Of course, even these tentative answers have further questions sprouting from them.

One question that I pondered off of the top of my head involved that sable-scaled dragon. Rather than blind me and leave me unconscious, why didn't it _kill_ me when I was absolutely vulnerable? I know I would've if I was in its scaly skin.

Perhaps there was a reason to this unusual choice of action. The reason however, I had no lead to in order to speculate from.

And rather than continue this mental gymnastics, I stopped pondering once all twenty-six of my S3-OSS devices are painted and neatly lined up on my work table. I waited only minutes to allow their paint to dry before deciding to give them all a test run.

* * *

><p><em><span>12.1: Unwelcomed Shadow<span>_

Location: 28N, 34E

Date: January 1st, 60 A.D.

Time: 10:25 AM

With everything packed away, except for the items strapped onto my being, as well as the worktable and the twenty-six S3-OSS devices on top of it, I retrieved my S2-PTSDO device from the left side of my body, only with a significant difference in the device's _appearance_.

The device was upgraded as of December of 59 A.D., the same time frame as the dream that I had that inspired me to develop and manufacture the S3-OSS devices. This dream was similar to the dream that inspired me to manufacture the S2-PTSDO device—revealed in a stage with one person revealing a new device to an audience.

Only three things have changed with this upgrade.

Firstly, the appearance was changed, which was simply done with a change of Auracite shells and reorganization and modification of the internal circuitry.

Secondly, a complete _removal_ of the Function Chip and Removal Chip dependence was made. In order to have done this, I simply upgraded the overall hardware, along with the "reorganization and modification of the internal circuitry", and upgraded the FTP—Function-Transformation Program—to FTPv.2, an absolute replacement for the chips. The chips themselves however, are stored away within my S1-GS device, obsolete and leaving behind numerous empty spaces along the S2-PTSDOv.2's holster/shoulder strap—which I wear from my right shoulder to my left thigh.

Thirdly, the device is now referred to as S2-PTSDOv.2, or DS _Lite_—Different System Lite—as its nickname.

With the device in my left hand, I open the device and activate the TCP—Total Control Program—and VCP—Voice Command Program—in tandem. I mutter the words "S2-PTSDOv.2, connect to all twenty-six S3-OSS devices," in a tone of voice hardened and deepened with age.

In no time at all, all of the devices hover above the table, using powerful and nano-compacted electromagnetism technology that react _only against_ the Earth's gravitational field. The lens of each device open up and aim towards me, signs that they're functioning properly.

I activate a third program, the DAP—Data Assimilation Program–, and access two branch programs that links the S2 and S3 devices together. These branch programs, the BEP—Bird's Eye Program—and the PLP—Precise Location Program—, allows me to view what the S3-OSS devices see through their lens, and _precisely_ identify where they are placed across the planet.

"S3-OSS.A to S3-OSS.Z, scatter across the planet." I ordered, and then covered my ears.

In an instant, the lens of the devices closed with a protective covering, and then the devices _themselves_ vanished from view, breaking the _sound_ barrier in their wake with speeds that maxed out at Mach 2. The devices disappeared across the horizon in mere seconds, and I uncovered my ears once the ear-splitting and earth-trembling sonic boom subsided. With the S2-PTSDOv.2 device in my left hand, and deliberately letting a fair amount of time pass by, I cycled through the camera views of the devices, checking how each device was performing on their maiden voyages.

One of the devices, S3-OSS.F, is present at South America's massive Amazon Rainforest, in the middle of the night. Another three have parked themselves in the air above three other locations: the Sahara Desert (S3-OSS.D), Mt. Everest (S3-OSS.M), and the African Savannah (S3-OSS.A). Each location is perfect to test the lens's different settings: Night Vision, Infrared Vision, Zoom, and X-Ray Vision.

Through the S3-OSS.F's Night Vision setting, the Amazon Rainforest is as clear as day, full of concealed insects and nocturnal wildlife. Through the S3-OSS.D's Infrared Vision, the body heat of the Sahara Desert's buried reptiles is as bright as the harsh sun itself. Through the S3-OSS.M's Zoom function, an object the size of a _pebble_ is clearly visible from the highest point on Earth. And through the S3-OSS.A's X-Ray Vision, a termite mound in the African Savannah is pierced by the X-Ray Vision and its inner network of termites clearly visible.

With further tests, a thought unconsciously emerged within my mind. With the S3-OSS devices that I've manufactured, I can survey my _home village_. Despite my banishment, I was never restricted from _indirectly_ observing their actions with whatever means that I was capable of.

However, another thought trailed behind the first thought.

Why?

What possible purpose do I have in observing the actions of a village that have unanimously banished me from their overall presence? Why would I even consider the thought of observing them? Is it out of curiosity? Does a part of me _still_ care about the village? If not, what about Costas and Ian, my childhood friends—my adopted _brothers_?

…No.

As alien as abandonment is to me, I've lost interest in them—my home, my neighbors, my family—years ago. After living alone for over a decade in banishment, my heart has become hardened with emotional negativity and warped in personality.

Despite this, some fragment of curiosity—a dim candle within a sable cave, a needle in a haystack, a solitary star in the night—tugged at me to decide to look.

So I gave the order…

"S3-OSS.V…" I called upon the name of the device closest to the village, "…observe my home village at coordinates twenty degrees North and forty degrees East, from three miles airborne."

…and then waited a few minutes.

The image of my village appeared clear and instantaneous through my handheld supercomputer. However, my complete reaction over this nostalgic sight came back to me at a snail's pace. I realized that within the village, a battle was beginning to emerge, between the villagers…and the Roman Army.

I only cared enough to pay attention to a few details amongst each side.

I notice that Costas and Ian are in the front of their village battalion—apparently as higher-ranking officials. They, along with their village allies, are only armed with basic bladed weaponry, and not the firing arms and complex weaponry that inhabited my laboratory for some unknown reason.

The Roman legion only consisted of 500 soldiers, armed without large weaponry and artillery, and was _just_ visible across the horizon, meaning that they had several miles to tread before arriving to the village.

I recall the last time that I faced a Roman battalion. It was primarily to protect the village. However, I don't have anything over there to protect now.

I bluntly think "(It's their problem now, and not mine)" before giving the command to assemble all twenty-six S3-OSS devices in front of me. Once they arrived soon after, I decided to harbor them within the empty slots of the "sash" section of my S2-PTSDOv.2's holster/shoulder strap, right where the Function and Transformation Chips once resided.

I began to ponder what to do next for the day, however…

"You're not one to abandon what you've developed a connection to, aren't you?" A bold male voice emanated.

_Just Wondering/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD7 - Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

A cold shiver surged between my scapula bones, and a partial loss of feeling followed nearby it. I digressed from this phenomenon and thought that it was merely my conscience acting against my tactics, a voice in my head that wanted to lead me on a different path.

However, whatever was contacting me spoke once more.

"Your childhood friends, home, and neighbors… You still care for them _some_where within you, right?"

The voice that spoke to me, I identified as coming from behind me—painfully obvious with my proficient sense of hearing. The voice _itself_ was unfamiliar to me, but it was clear that _I_ wasn't foreign to the speaker. Whoever—or _what_ever—was behind me clearly knew me well enough to know my connections.

Without hesitation, I did a full about-face of my body and encountered a hooded figure in front of me. The figure appeared human in terms of physical build, but was perfectly concealed by a dark robe. The characteristics of this being, especially those of the countenance, were enigmatic to me.

"If you did, you'd return to them, regardless of banishment and past emotions."

"Who are you?" I said with heightened authority.

The hooded figure continued speaking, having transcending my question and disregarded it. "You should return to them. They need you. They won't last long without you. They're facing against a sophisticated empire, one with control of over thousands of miles of terrain."

"Where'd you learn about me?" I continued inquiring.

"With your self-titled 'Elemental Aura' abilities, those enemies will be less than the sand that they walk upon. You'd finely ground them up in a heartbeat."

My questions about the hooded figure's identity were not granting me any progress. So I decided to change my tactics and speak _against_ this being's suggestions. "And what if I say 'No'? What If I disregard their predicament and allow them to settle their own problems _without_ me?"

"…" The hooded figure was silent, yet unmoved.

"How about we both reset ourselves," I suggested. "Who the hell are you? Why are you here before me? How do you know me? Why are you suggesting that I return to my village, when I've decided to abandon it and embrace a solitary life, one in which the only person imperative in my life is _myself_?"

Before I knew it, the whole atmosphere around us turned black, _exactly_ like with my final moments with the hostile dragon. Just like in that situation, I found myself frozen and immobile. The hooded figure blended in with the surroundings and for a moment, I lost sight of him.

Being as intelligent—or speculative—as I am, I immediately juxtaposed the hooded figure to the dragon that I fought years ago. "(Is this hooded figure _connected_ to the dragon in some way?)" I thought, physically restricted and with elevating anxiety.

Another thought emerged within me, an important thought. However, before I could make sense of it, I felt a constricting feeling across my head, as if blood was being stifled from reaching my brain. I couldn't do anything about it, and I passed out rather quickly, albeit retained my bipedal posture.

Once the dark field disappeared, the hooded figure was behind me. He simply poked me on the back of my head and caused my body weight to tilt forward. His hand retracted back to the side of his body, and I collapsed onto the warm sandy floor, with my stomach on the sand and my back to the sun.

The hooded figure walked around me, stopping to my right side, never looking away. "I thought our previous encounter would awaken that dormant power within you."

With one foot from the hooded figure placed onto my ribcage, I was rolled onto my back. The hooded figure hunched down and lifted my eye patch, noticing how a heavy concentration of veins surrounded my left eye and migrated across the left side of my face.

My left eye was pried open by his hands, exposing the fact that my left eye was a blank white canvas now.

"It's clear that you've buried that power quite deep within you, enough to have me work in exposing it," The hooded figure let go of my left eye, which closed automatically, and then repositioned my eye patch onto its original spot. "However, your restriction is weakening. And under the _right_ conditions, that power of yours will resurface. All that you have to do is fight in one…more…battle."

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><em><span>12.2: Unwanted Ally<span>_

Location: 20N, 40E (Village)

Date: January 1st, 60 A.D.

Time: 11:21 AM

My body is present in the middle of a sandy floor, lied out and relaxed, unconscious due to the actions of the hooded figure. I awake seconds later, looking up in the sky, plainly blue and bright.

The basic feeling of my body comes to me in an instant. I felt my body stretched out in the shape of a cross, with my palms pointed towards the sky, and my fingers curled up into the shape of a falcate. If I had no memory of the encounter with the hooded figure, I would've just lied here, stagnant and nonchalant, pondering heavily about technology and my place in this world for hours.

But that wasn't the case, and I got up slowly.

I get up to notice that I was back in my old home: the village of my birth. Feeling slightly groggy and relaxed, as if I had awakened from a good nap, I looked all around me with the slowness of a sloth. I first bother looking for the hooded figure, knowing that I was brought here under his actions. But alas, whoever he was, there was no physical trace of him around, not that I knew of.

Because of that, I set the hooded being aside, and then I noticed that, forewarned moments ago through my S2-PTSDOv.2 device, the Roman Army had arrived to the village. The village rebellion was prepared for the eventual battle, as was the Roman Army.

This meant that they had no anticipation for my sudden presence, and because of that, they were absolutely surprised of me. My unexpected presence left them absolutely discombobulated.

All except for Costas and Ian, my two childhood friends. Or perhaps they were as surprised as everyone else in this village. I didn't care enough.

I bothered looking at them as they did the same to me. The first two details that I notice of them are their age and astonishment. They were always three months older than me, and because of that, I was hardly able to recognize them, despite having seen them through my S3-OSS.V device.

Their astonishment was clear on their facial expressions. The fact that they haven't seen me in over ten years left them comprehending what has changed about me. The only thing that has changed of my appearance is what I have strapped around my head and over my left eye, as well as the holster/shoulder strap for my S2-PTSDOv.2 device and S3-OSS devices.

The remainder of my appearance—my short hair, my white shirt, my blue jeans, my monochrome pants, my second network of veins on my skin, my age-based appearance—remained unchanged.

Seeing my two childhood friends didn't distract me from the unwanted enemies, or the fact that I was banished from this village. As the unwanted ally in this fight, I turned to face the Roman Army, with a soulless countenance. They appeared ready for battle, but were cautious against me, well aware of my attributes, ferocity, and merciless lethality.

I decided to fight the Roman Army with this thought in my head for motivation: I imagined that my life depended on overcoming them as quickly as possible, like a bomb that needed to be disarmed, where a time surplus leaves the disarmer nonchalant and mentally lubricated.

Immediately, I bent my knees slightly, crossed my arms and uncrossed them as fists. This stance immediately intimidated them, causing half of them to step back, with their flight instinct triggered half-way in the "On" position. This also caused every one of the villagers behind me to falter backwards, but only to not get in the way of any cross-fire.

Both sides were clearly expecting something spontaneous from my stance, but that expectation never came.

Through that stance, I began to focus my Elemental Aura abilities to my fists. I considered my options of defeating them. Do I _incinerate_ them with projectile fireballs? Do I _sweep_ them off of their feet and _lift_ them sky-high with a sudden gale? Do I _freeze _them to the point where their genitals drop to the sand and shatter like glass? How about I _electrocute_ them and _bake_ their skin onto their armor, fire tornado rotisserie style?

How about all of the above? Why bother choosing from many options when I have the time—as well as the quantity of soldiers—to do so?

Unfortunately, there was only one significant problem: I was unable to _access_ my Elemental Aura abilities.

"(Oh shit…)" I thought as my normal methods of aura conjuring failed me. It was as if my powers departed me for this fight, through abnormal means. I knew that, despite my intelligence, you still need _physical_ force of some kind to fight with. I discarded my stance and looked at my opened hands, attempting to concentrate my inner being within them, with no success whatsoever.

Before I've considered the possibility that I've lost my powers eternally, my arms were suddenly grabbed by two people of the village: Costas and Ian.

"You shouldn't fight in your current condition," Costas said, holding onto my left arm.

"We can handle them with _our_ army," Ian said, gripping onto my right arm.

I found myself led by them into my old home and into my old laboratory, and then into my old _prison_. Part of me felt as if they had turned on me and were arresting me. However, they had this to say.

"This laboratory and your prison is more than enough security for us both," Costas said.

"We reinforced the entry door with a security lock since last month," Ian said.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Village (Prison Cell Room)<span>

Date: January 1st, 60 A.D.

Time: 11:32 AM

_Prison/Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Original Soundtrack, Disk 2/Hitoshi Sakimoto_

_(Song Begins)_

I am, once again, in my own prison, with Costas and Ian as my designated wardens. I sat down on the bed within this cell, knowing that we were within here out of my own protection, Costas, Ian, and I.

However, I strongly felt that, Elemental Aura abilities or not, I should still be fighting the Roman Army alongside the village rebellion, whether they wanted me to or not.

"Why exactly are you here, Eduardo?" Costas wondered, with his back on my cell door.

"What compelled you to return, despite the fact that you're banished?" Ian inquired, with his back on the cell door in front of me.

"I wasn't _compelled_ to return in any manner. I actually didn't want any part of role in this village since my banishment ten-and-a-half years ago." I spoke bluntly, which was made sound sharp through the echo of this narrow room.

"…" Both Costas and Ian were silent of my truthful words.

"However, a hooded figure, shrouded in a dark robe and speaking in a bold male voice," I began to describe what _little_ I knew of the hooded figure, "knocked me unconscious and somehow transported me _miles_ over here in a very small amount of time."

"Do you know who that hooded figure is?" Costas said, knowing me well enough to believe what I say, no matter how vague or absurd.

Both Ian and I gave Costas gazes so sharp and ice cold that they could make water freeze in an instant.

"Never mind," He said with a stupid grin and a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"(You never change,)" Ian thought.

"(How many head injuries have you sustained in ten-and-a-half years?)" I thought before resuming speaking. "Anyway, whoever the hooded figure is, he—I'm saying 'he' because of his tone of voice—is long gone because I couldn't see him at all around the village."

They believed me, knowing that I'm not one to fib. They also know, through our years together during our childhood, how to read each other, just like with my shock before fighting the Roman Army. I've lost my Elemental Aura abilities, the trump card that I have against them, and they contemplated that and decided.

This is why I'm here, in prison, and not outside, fighting the Roman Army.

"Did you overexert yourself before coming here?" Ian wondered.

"Not in the _least_," I responded. "However, I'm certain that that hooded figure is responsible for my lack of Elemental Aura power. I was brought here reluctantly, and I suppose that, with _whatever_ power that he possesses, was used on me for this fight."

"So you're saying that you were brought here _just_ for this fight?" Costas asked.

"Perhaps, but regardless of that hooded figure's unknown intentions, I should still participate in this fight, with or with_out_ my power."

Costas and Ian look at each other briefly and silently, and then turned to face me.

"No," they both said.

Despite my ridiculously sensitive sense of hearing, I chose to ignore their answer and remained consistently persistent in receiving my parole. "Do you two believe that I can't stand up to them without my powers?"

They looked at each other once more, in the same fashion as before, and then faced me with the words "Yes".

_(Song Ends Abruptly)_

Hearing this brought me up to my feet. "How disappointing," I said with my arms crossed behind my back, and shaking my head briefly.

"What is?" Costas said.

"Have you both forgotten enough about me after all those years of my banishment? I know that _I_ haven't forgotten about you both, or this village, despite the fact that I no longer wanted any part of this place _or_ you two."

Ian knew that I was going somewhere with this, deciding to prove them wrong and that I still had something up my sleeve.

"Where are you going with this?" He said, seeing the purpose of my words.

"Why don't we just take a look at my strengths, shall we? What is the most powerful quintessence about me?"

"…" They both wanted to say "Your Elemental Aura abilities", "your superior intellect", "your bat-like hearing", or "your cutting-edge technology". However, they knew that I knew that they didn't have the answer of which I'm referring to, and so they merely shrugged their shoulders in defeat.

"The most powerful quintessence about me…is my _adaptability_." I reminded them quickly, feeling rushed of time when I heard _very_ faint sounds of battle from the surface.

They both appeared to not expect this answer.

"If I can't use my Elemental Aura abilities, I'll just use something else."

I reached for the item that I had strapped onto the outside of my right thigh.

"In this case," I exposed my S1-GS device to them, "I'll just use _this_ assimilator on the Roman Army."

Ian, whom was holding the key to my cell room door, unlocked it and I stepped out, never putting away my S1-GS device.

"We should hurry to the surface now," I said.

All three of us ran over to the entrance of the underground laboratory. Along the way, Costas and Ian remembered something that they believed would be of interest to me. They attempt to tell me, but I purposefully choose to decline, telling them to wait until _after_ I defeat the Roman Army.

Both Costas and Ian look at each other, apparently thinking of the visitor that arrived here a month ago. They think of _him_, someone who rivals me in terms of mystery.

* * *

><p>"You try never to strike anyone, but when you must, you strike only one blow, but such a harsh one that your enemy can never, never strike back." —Orson Scott Card (78) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

* * *

><p>This is a rather short chapter, compared to my other updates anyway. However, this chapter get quality done, and sure as hell left a few cliffhanger topics that I'll address in the upcoming future.<p>

Before the update of this chapter, I changed a few things within my profile page. I added the songs (and song links), to the "Table of Contents" portion, as I always do. I updated the reports explaining the S1 and S2 devices, adding the material utilized in their production, as well as the "version 2" of the S2-PTSDO device. I added those two new Elemental Aura abilities that I mentioned in their respective area on my profile page. And finally, I added a report mentioning the S3-OSS devices in greater detail.

Now, on a personal note, I think I should make this known.

By the time you all read this sentence, I'll be starting college. Since I work as well, balancing both will likely leave me somewhat busy. Any future chapters that I write will likely be slowed down somewhat. Of course, I'll likely breeze through both, but I;m not entirely sure.

Thankfully, I've written amost all of this story anyway. I'll still be updating on a regular basis, with whatever free time that I can muster.

So until then, good-bye for now. And wish me luck in college.


	13. Chapter VII (7)

200,000.

With that number itself, I've officially reached a 200,000 word count in my story. Not an easy feat for any FanFic author on this website.

And how do I know this?

Well, based on what search results tell me, there is 46,792 different stories (and an additional approximate 2,264 crossover stories) in the Pokemon section of this website, as of this recent update on 3/20/12. So in total, there are 49,056 stories in all.

And if I narrow that down by word count, only 566 stories have surpassed AT LEAST 100,000 words.

Doing the math, 566/49,056 = 0.0115378, or 1.15%.

So what that means is that only about one out of every one hundred Pokemon FanFic authors has the drive to reach 100,000 words.

Of course, I've surpassed 200,000 words, which is even harder (or at least takes much longer). And since the search results only tells me " 100,000", I don't know how many other Pokemon FanFic authors have surpassed 200,000 words. My guess is that its 0.5%, or 1/200, but I don't know.

Anyway, I've digressed enough, and have already mentioned what was on my mind.

In this chapter, Xeno Lucario and his party of Pokemon initiate their escape plan. How will it go for them?

Cross over this line and find out.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter VII (7): Now Leaving Team Rocket<strong>

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 29): Room 29-6

Date: October 16th, 2011

Time: 2:00 AM

A plan was thought over by Lucario yesterday in only a few hours. To ensure that fatigue isn't a problem, everybody fell asleep after 6:00 in the evening. They would awaken in the middle of the night, when everybody else is asleep—or at least the Team Rocket Grunts who have daily shifts—and commence with their plan.

Lucario, being the only Pokémon free of his respective Poké Ball—the black and red "Team Rocket's Poké Ball"—, slept comfortably in his bed, with the alarm clock adjacent to his bed set for 2:00 AM.

And once the set time was reached…

_**Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep! Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep! Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep!**_

…Lucario awakened with full realization of what would occur today…

_**Beep! Beep! Bee—!**_

…turned off the alarm clock with a downward smack of his paw and stood up and off of his bed, not even bothering to tend to the mattress because he would no longer use it in the future.

The package he received yesterday was left as it originally was, with the six items—the letter within an envelope, the diverse Poké Balls of Mewtwo's party of four Pokémon, and the belt for holding up to ten Poké Balls—stored within it. He retrieves the Expert Belt beside the package and straps it onto himself as if it were a sash, stretched from his right shoulder to his left thigh. The belt follows in suit, strapped—and adjusted—around his waistline. Finally, his entire party of eight Pokémon is stored within the sides of his belt—his party on his left side, and Mewtwo's party on his right side—in tandem.

As for the letter, Lucario deliberately disposed of it by grasping it with his paw and _burning_ it away with his aura. The letter, and all that is inscribed on it, was reduced to sable ash, which Lucario blew off of his paw and wiped off afterward.

Before exiting Room 29-6 for the final time, Lucario decides to see the outside of the windows, out of nostalgia. He eyed the celestial, dotted sable sky and pondered briefly of what Mewtwo thought during this same nighttime setting, what was present in its mind prior to delivering him the package and its contents.

He speculates that Mewtwo, whether it showed interest in Team Liberator or not, did in fact _consider_ aiding him. In doing so, Lucario believed that Mewtwo, despite its physical absence, is _with_ him, as cliché or as tentative as it may seem when Lucario thought about it.

He chooses not to digress any further chronologically and proceeds over to the Registration Room in the one and only floor above Room 29-6.

* * *

><p><em><span>13.1: Team Liberator's Escape (Phase One)<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 30/Roof Floor): Registration Room

_Under Cover of Night/Halo Original Soundtrack/Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori_

_(Song Begins)_

Lucario, treading as silent as a ninja, traveled to the front door of the Registration Room. Utilizing his Aura Vision ability, he transcends over the physical bulwark that is the door and quickly observes the inside of the room. He doesn't have to look in detail to realize that there's no one within the room—to his hopes—and decides to dissipate his Aura Vision ability before he gripped the door knob.

The mechanisms of the door knob clicked against each other under Lucario's grip, signs that the door was clearly _locked_. He didn't hesitate to attempt to meddle with the lock and open the door. However, he realized—as quickly as he sensed a lack of presence inside the room—that his hand-spike was too wide to fit within the keyhole.

Before cursing at this setback, he looked at the gap between the door and the floor, and thought if it large enough for him to _squeeze_ his way through, once he makes a few modifications to himself.

He removes all of his equipment and sets it briefly aside, in order to do what he anticipates himself of doing. He remains immobile and mentally concentrates of fitting through the gap below him. Within seconds, he finds his vision suddenly warping and appearing before him as if the entire space around him is _growing_.

In reality, he was utilizing a Pokémon technique called MINIMIZE, and _shrinking_ himself to the size of a dust Buneary.

With his newfound miniature size, he makes like a Rattata and squeezes his way through the gap before him. He struggles mildly with getting the lower half of his body through—because of the fluffy fur of his blue thighs—but persists and reaches the other side of the door.

To grow back to his normal size, he inhales deeply and breaths out an odd gray gas from his two nostrils. With HAZE, he cancels any stat abnormalities—beneficial and/or harmful—and finds the room shrinking to normal before his eyes. The door is unlocked with ease and Lucario re-straps his equipment as it once was on him.

With great speed and telekinetic abilities, all eight of his Pokémon expose themselves from their individual Poké Balls in the form of red energy, under Lucario's intentions. Lucario returns all eight of his Poké Balls to their respective slots on his belt once all eight Pokémon have rematerialized fully. All eight Pokémon of his party awaited Lucario's orders.

"_It's time to initiate Phase One of Team Liberator's Escape Plan,_" He said after they rematerialized, and they all nod before performing their premeditated tasks.

Lucario goes to Giovanni's computer/table hybrid and sits down on the Team Rocket Boss's chair. He turns on the table computer as Giovanni always does, through a switch on the underside.

Charmeleon and Lairon go to the Teleportation Terminal on the side of the room—the one that Giovanni accessed to teleport Aqua, Terra, and Wanderer over a year ago—and awaits both Aqua and Wanderer to step into the Teleportation Terminal's cylindrical Warp Zone, so that they are teleported to the Basement Floors of this building.

Charmeleon initiates, through the computer, the teleportation of Aqua and Wanderer. Lairon proceeds to the side of the Healing Machine—adjacent from the Teleportation Terminal—and locates the storage container of the Poké Balls of the Pokémon within the Basement Floors, dragging the heavy object close to the cylindrical Warp Zone.

Hundreds of assorted Poké Balls are housed in a brazenly decorated treasure chest, one that appeared to belong to a pirate of yesteryear. Once Aqua and Wanderer were teleported and the Warp Zone was traceless of their presence, Lairon easily pushes the heavy treasure chest within the cylindrical Warp Zone, utilizing the surplus of physical strength that it seldom taps into.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor B1): Basement Cells<span>

To their expectations, Aqua and Wanderer were teleported to the Basement Cells of Floor B1, and they found themselves _within_ a holding cell of this room. However, Lucario having earlier explained to the both of them of this situation when comprehending Team Liberator's Plan, both Aqua and Wanderer were as calm as a pond of water in what to do about this.

Aqua immediately approached the glass bulwark and opened its mouth as wide as physically possible. A light blue sphere of frigid energy began to emerge from its mouth and once the energy built up enough, Aqua exhaled it in the form of light blue lightning.

The instant it made contact with the glass bulwark, the glass froze over gradually and _entirely_. Both Pokémon swapped places and Wanderer jabbed at the glass bulwark with MACH PUNCH, making sure of having the sharp point of its bone protrusion contact the glass first.

The end result of these two attacks was an utter failure of the glass to maintain its security and _shatter_ like the material that it is. The reason was that Lucario learned that if an object is frozen at a cold enough temperature, it becomes crystalline in composition and _extremely brittle._

Through Lucario's explanation, Aqua and Wanderer have successfully shattered the glass bulwark.

Both Pokémon step to the hallway—Aqua shoving the glass aside and away with its pearl white and surprisingly thick, blubbery belly—and give the signal to a surveillance camera, connected to the Teleportation Terminal's monitors, to teleport the treasure chest of Poké Balls over.

A short amount of time passes between the given signal and the arrival of the treasure chest, which resides within their previous location after a brief flash of bright white light.

As Wanderer drags it over to the hallway, Aqua commenced with freezing the glass bulwarks of the hallway. Wanderer opens the treasure chest and retrieves two dozen Poké Balls from it with PSYCHIC, and then proceeds over to the frozen glass bulwarks. It rubs both paw-spikes together, prepping itself for the impending task at hand.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 20): Security Room<span>

The nighttime shift of the security guards of Team Rocket always proved to be a tiresome job that reaps little in terms of excitement or progress. The security guards, only two of them, sat on chairs, facing the security camera monitors with teary eyes and gaping mouths.

They were not aware in the _least_ when Dusknoir ominously rose from the floor, holding Luxray by the sides of the ribcage with its arms.

Then again, they _wouldn't_ be aware in general, because they were so silent that not even the sensitive ears of a Zubat could hear them. Only their heads appeared from the floor at the moment, observing the security guards closely, both with sharpened red and rutilant eyes, each of different color schemes.

Within moments, one of the security camera monitors for Floor 1 showed an image of two Pokémon blazing across the hallway: a Garchomp and a Tyranitar. Both Dusknoir and Luxray knew well enough that it was Terra and Tyranitar whom passed by the security camera, however the security guards thought otherwise. They thought of them as wild Pokémon, which intruded into the premises.

They got up surprisingly quickly, despite their earlier quiescence. However, once they turned around 180 degrees, they briefly caught a glimpse of two things: sharp fangs and crackling electricity.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 1): Vehicle Room<span>

Both Terra and Tyranitar, whom were shortly observed through the security cameras as running across the hallway, were pondering the realization that there's no Team Rocket Grunts around them to stop them. They know that Dusknoir and Luxray were in charge of immobilizing _all_ of them, so as to have minimum encumbrance as they are initiating Team Liberator's Plan.

They both pondered how both Dusknoir and Luxray were proficiently performing their task at hand.

A short run later, they arrived to the entrance of the Vehicle Room in Floor 1. Tyranitar opens the door with its hands—because Terra couldn't grip a doorknob to save its life—and both Pokémon proceed inside.

The room's dimensions were equal to those of four football fields placed together in two-by-two order. The space is required to store over fifty transportation vehicles: off-road vehicles, jets, helicopters, etc.

Terra and Tyranitar, after eyeing all of the vehicles within the vicinity, proceed to a cargo helicopter of their choosing, one which they would _all_ make their escape in momentarily. The design of the cargo helicopter—a twin-rotary, fifty-foot-long helicopter with a pitch black paintjob and a red "R" on both sides—seemed competent to suffice their escape's needs.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 30Roof Floor): Registration Room

Charmeleon and Lairon are flawlessly operating the Teleportation Terminal and the Healing Machine adjacent to it. The treasure chest was teleported back recently, empty and placed to the side of the Healing Machine. Charmeleon teleported the Poké Balls that Aqua and Wanderer put its respective Pokémon within, and Lairon would place them on the Healing Machine, replacing them and storing them away within the treasure chest as needed, when more Poké Balls arrive.

During their work, Lucario accessed his battle armor—currently stored within Floor 10—from Giovanni's table computer, and then set it on standby for when he arrives there in time and puts it on. He feels as though he needs it, especially in case Team Rocket hunts him down.

Next, he accesses its memory and discards all of the data on it, except for the programs that allow it to function properly. What he does next is something that the battle armor's helmet is capable of storing in its memory: _all_ of the files of Team Rocket—goals, history, members, objectives, Pokémon. The information would consume a few hundred gigabytes of memory in Lucario's helmet, which it had quite enough for.

However, the instant Lucario attempted to copy all of the files onto his helmet's hard drive…

PLEASE INPUT PASSWORD, GIOVANNI

…this message appeared on the table computer's broad monitor.

Before Lucario could curse the name of the Alpha Pokémon, he anticipated that his plan wouldn't be so straightforward. However, he was persistent, and did in fact have a couple of hints in bypassing this restriction.

The password isn't case sensitive and is spaced between words.

* * *

><p>With the security guards unconscious and immobile until morning, Dusknoir and Luxray continue their search for Team Rocket Grunts to K.O.<p>

Most of the Grunts are asleep in their bed, and only require one quick nibble of Luxray's THUNDER FANG attack in order to fall unconscious. Others however, were doing other actions—despite how late it currently was.

One Grunt was about to enter his bathroom, disturbed by the call of nature in the middle of his sleep. He was knocked out cold when Dusknoir and Luxray ethereally appeared out of the bathroom door before the Grunt approached it, _not_ from THUNDER FANG, but by recoiling back and hitting his head onto the wall.

Another Grunt was in the shower and prior to leaving, saw both Pokémon and slipped in the tub.

Both Dusknoir and Luxray left afterwards, only thinking about Team Liberator's Plan and not of the well-being of the Grunts they knocked unconscious—not that they _should_ as it is. For all they knew, they've already killed a few of the Grunts by stopping their hearts with Luxray's amperage.

With most of the Grunts knocked unconscious—or dead—, as both Pokémon flew across the hallway as silent and phantasm-like as the night, Dusknoir heard an odd smacking sound in front of it. It didn't take a second for the Gripper Pokémon to know just what was making the sound, but it did take longer as to _why_ the sound was being made.

_What_ the sound was is the licking of Luxray's chops. As for _why_ Luxray was doing so…

"_Luxray, what are you doing?_" Dusknoir asked the Gleam Eyes Pokémon that it effortlessly carried by the sides of its ribcage.

"What does it _sound_ like I'm doing? I'm licking my chops." Luxray paused briefly, thinking why Dusknoir asked its question. "Oh wait, you're wondering _why_, right?"

Dusknoir simply said "_Yes_" out of curiosity.

"Let me face you first," Luxray asked.

Dusknoir stopped traveling forward and obeyed Luxray without question. Once Luxray faced it, the Gripper Pokémon noticed a vast amount of blood on Luxray's mouth, on its teeth, and on its tongue. This didn't bother the Gripper Pokémon, compared to those with hemophobia anyway.

"I'm biting hard enough to make the Grunts bleed," Luxray said, "and apparently, they taste pretty damn good inside, which is why I'm licking the blood off of my face."

Dusknoir was mildly stunned by Luxray's enjoyment in this and turns him 180 degrees again, hovering along the hallway once more, with the Gleam Eyes Pokémon in hand.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 1): Vehicle Room<span>

With the cargo helicopter of their choice, both Terra and Tyranitar made the necessary preparations for setting up the vehicle for their expected escape.

The hangar door, being closed due to the current lack of use, was Terra's target. The Mach Pokémon squatted to the floor and dug its sharp claws below the door, creasing and bending it, so that they fit properly. With moderate force, the door was opened wide, allowing a cold chill to enter the room, as well as a pitch black setting beyond the walls of Team Rocket Main Headquarters. The cold air didn't bother Terra, thanks to the resistance its developing to Ice-Type attacks by Aqua.

The fuel supply of the cargo helicopter was Tyranitar's target. Because it has better "hands" to grip with than Terra, it was able to attach the gas pump to the cargo helicopter, fueling it steadily.

With the cargo helicopter fully fueled after a short time, Tyranitar removed the gas pump from the rotary machine and _before_ setting it aside, decided to examine it, preferably the liquid dripping out of its nozzle.

"(What is in this liquid that makes these man-made metallic machines work?)" Tyranitar thought with the utmost curiosity. "(I suppose _tasting_ it might give me the answers.)"

Tyranitar immediately lip-locked the nozzle and had a few drops fall on its tongue. In an instant, the flavor of the gasoline was processed by its brain. The flavor of the gasoline was, to Tyranitar's imagination, the equivalent of raw sewage, and equally as toxic—in large doses at least. This led to the immediate rejection of the gas pump, as well as a fair amount of dry heaving and heavy gagging.

With the hangar door open, Terra approached the sickened Tyranitar and eyed the gasoline pump. Placing it back in its original place—fumbling with it for a few moments—, Terra asked "What's up with your behavior?"

Tyranitar's answer was immediate and spiteful.

"Oh my Arceus, (*gag*) (*cough*cough*) what the _hell_ was it that I just tasted?" Tyranitar was surprisingly able to speak despite its gagging. "How the fu—"

_**Bang!**_

A sudden spiteful punch across the side of the cargo helicopter rattled across the entire Vehicle Room, needlessly shattering the shattered peace of silence—and helpfully censoring Tyranitar's expletive.

Terra only grew wide-eyed at this, but nothing more.

"—do these Arceus-damned machines _function_ on such a disgusting substance?"

If Dusknoir and Luxray weren't actively knocking out Team Rocket Grunts at this moment, Terra would've instantly silenced the expletive-prone Pokémon by bashing its head with the broadside of its shark-like tail.

With a smile of amusement, Terra said "You're such a neophyte, Tyranitar", chuckling a little after its words.

"Oh, you can just go and—" Tyranitar spews forth more than a spiteful remark. Its dinner was soon on the floor, which smelled heavily of gourmet steak and Berries.

"Whatever," Terra, with its eyes closed and its smile still present, smugly shrugged its shoulders without Tyranitar seeing, not caring if it did or not.

As of now, Terra thought of Tyranitar as a neophyte whom recklessly acted on its curiosity rather than its common sense. However, in doing so, Terra _almost_ forgot about its past experiences, back when it was a Gible freshly captured and belonging to Team Rocket. It recalled actions similar to those Tyranitar did just now.

During its first few months of working for Team Rocket, it remembered countless times of its curiosity overpowering its naive mind, causing it to clamp its mouth onto practically everything in its sight. In one case, it clamped onto the nozzle of a gas pump and was forcefully engorged with gasoline. Were it not for the medical care that Team Rocket _surprisingly_ possessed for Pokémon, as well of the fact that they saw the potential in it for their criminal needs, it would've indubitably died of the gasoline's toxicity.

"(Perhaps I shouldn't be so hypocritical about this…)" Terra thought solemnly to itself, briefly trailing off into Memory Lane.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor B1): Basement Cells<span>

The process of recovering all of the Pokémon within the basement cells was rather quick, despite the quantity of both Pokémon and Poké Balls that Aqua and Wanderer had to work with. Aqua's Ice-Type attributes and Wanderer's telekinetic abilities proved invaluable in maximizing work while simultaneously minimizing time.

All of the Pokémon were teleported and accounted for by Lairon, back at the Registration Room in Floor 30. Their part in Team Liberator's Plan is complete.

As they await their turns at teleportation, Wanderer notices Aqua's mouth is opened suspiciously, as if it were holding something within its jaws. The light-furred Aura Pokémon showed curiosity to this.

"_Aqua, are you holding something?_"

Aqua simply nodded and angled its mouth to allow Wanderer to see the item it held inside of its mouth. Aqua held a black sphere with a gold band around its center, and a red band on its top. To Wanderer, the item's identity was quickly identified.

Aqua was holding a Luxury Ball in its mouth.

"_May I hold it please?_" Wanderer held out one paw underneath Aqua's mouth.

Aqua handed over the Luxury Ball to Wanderer. The ball is surprisingly dry, despite being in the mouth of the Transport Pokémon.

"_Why didn't you place it back with the other Poké Balls?_" It said with its eyes on the Luxury Ball.

"It's empty," Aqua simply said. "I think we got an extra Poké Ball in that treasure chest."

"_Or perhaps a Pokémon fled from the Basement Floors and escaped on its own._"

"Do you think so?" Aqua accepted the possibility in a heartbeat.

"_It's entirely possible, although I find it improbable._" Wanderer stopped looking at the Luxury Ball and awaited teleportation.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 30Roof Floor): Registration Room

Giovanni is the boss

INCORRECT PASSWORD, GIOVANNI

Giovanni is the man

INCORRECT PASSWORD, GIOVANNI

Giovanni for president

INCORRECT PASSWORD, GIOVANNI

Respect my authority

WHO ARE YOU, INTRUDER?

The table was pounded by Lucario's fists, out of frustration at the lack of the correct password. Before cursing at Arceus in high heaven, Lucario decides to rethink his strategy. He considers the fact that passwords are often something that no one would expect, or expect last.

A password that is unknown to all but the user and the primary keyword is "unknown".

The word "unknown" causes Lucario to think of an unknown of Team Rocket. The first thought he regards as an unknown for Team Rocket is its name.

"(What is the origin of the name 'Team Rocket'?)" Lucario thought.

He ponders firstly the possibility that the word 'Rocket' is an acronym.

"(If it is an acronym, then what are the words that give 'Rocket' its existence?)"

Feeling the need to concentrate on this matter, Lucario reclines back on Giovanni's chair, with closed eyes and his elongated snout pointed at the ceiling. All this did for the Aura Pokémon was cause mucus to trail down his throat.

He opens his eyes, and in an instant, they're locked on something specific.

"(How long has that plaque been up there?)" Lucario thought. He eyed the plaque in curiosity and noticed that it was inscribed with these words.

**R**aid **O**n the **C**ity, **K**nock out, **E**vil **T**usks

"(Queer words for a plaque to display…)" Lucario thought moments before his eyes widened in realization. "(…Wait a minute!)"

In a hurry, Lucario typed in the words inscribed on the plaque onto the table computer's keyboard, noticing that the capital letters on the phrase represent the six letters in 'Rocket', and as he hoped…

PASSWORD ACCEPTED GIOVANNI

…the password was correct. The copying of the files was immediately started and in progress. The helmet of his battle armor would have all of Team Rocket's files copied over before he could reach it.

"(*Sigh*)" Lucario put his elbows on the table computer and rubbed the back of his neck, an action of relief after having transcended the password. He smiled with his head pointed down, and almost chuckled to himself. "(I'm glad _that's_ over.)"

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 10): Recovery Room<span>

Both Dusknoir and Luxray agreed in making Giovanni the last of the humans to knock out unconscious. Once everybody else was accounted for and rendered immobile, both Pokémon traveled over to the Recovery Room in Floor 10 that Giovanni currently resided in.

They both emerged from the ground, as they did in the Security Room of Floor 20, a few feet away from Giovanni's bed. Once they were able to see above the bed, they were both stunned to notice Giovanni's utter _lack_ of presence.

With this weighing heavily in their minds, they both decide to continue to hover, back to the Registration Room in Floor 20, to regroup with Lucario.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 30Roof Floor): Registration Room

Once Aqua, Charmeleon, Lairon, Wanderer, and the treasure chest of Poké Balls were back in the Registration Room of Floor 30, Lucario approached them.

"_So we're all done here, right?_" Lucario asked them.

The four Pokémon that Lucario addressed to nodded their heads briefly.

"_Now we simply wait for Dusknoir and Luxray. By the time they return, my battle armor will have finished assimilating all of Team Rocket's files and then we can go commence Phase Two of Team Liberator's Plan._"

Another brief nod was made by the four Pokémon.

"_Might I interject, Xeno?_" Wanderer spoke up.

It was Lucario's turn to nod briefly and he awaited Wanderer's actions.

"_Aqua recovered a spare Luxury Ball at the Basement Floors,_" Wanderer passed it over to Lucario, whom examined it briefly before looking back at the light-furred Aura Pokémon. "_I believe that it belonged to a Pokémon within the Basement Floors. I improbably speculate that a Pokémon belongs within here._"

Lucario immediately opens the Luxury Ball and examines its interior. "_No Pokémon harbors this Luxury Ball. The inner circuitry shows no signs of use yet._" Lucario closed the Luxury Ball, pressed its center button to shrink it, and tucked it away within the last slot of left side of his belt, leaving only one slot remaining on the right side.

"_Alright then,_" Wanderer simply said.

With no warning, Dusknoir and Luxray return to them from below. Dusknoir sets Luxray down on the floor, and Luxray doesn't cease to lick its mouth clean of human blood, a sign that it enjoyed its assigned task.

"_What news do you bring us, Dusknoir?_" Lucario inquires the Gripper Pokémon, automatically assuming that it and Luxray finished their tasks.

"_I can inform us all that all of the Team Rocket Grunts have been subdued and rendered immobile, all but one at least._"

"Is it Giovanni?" Aqua asks.

"_Unfortunately, yes._" Dusknoir's words were heavy with disappointment. "_He's missing, and neither of us can sense his presence._"

"_I should assume as much,_" Lucario said. "_However, he is only one person now, whom will not abate our escape plans. We will now initiate Phase Two of Team Liberator's Plan, and if we see Giovanni before escaping, we tear him apart. It doesn't matter who does so or in what manner, so long as it's done._"

Everybody nodded, including Luxray, whom finished licking its chops for scraps of human blood that clung tightly into his fur.

Dusknoir then gripped Lucario by the sides of his torso and dragged him down to Floor 10, where his armor is, and it would then inform Terra and Tyranitar to commence Phase Two of Team Liberator's Plan before retrieving the Poké Balls from Floor 1 and upward. Everybody else, with the treasure chest in their possession, proceeded to retrieve the Poké Balls from Floor 30 and downward. When they all meet once more, they would reunite with Terra and Tyranitar and escape together.

_(Song ends)_

* * *

><p><em><span>13:2: Team Liberator's Escape (Phase Two)<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 1): Vehicle Room

Time: 3:00 AM

_Encounter (Metal Gear Solid)/Metal Gear/Super Smash Bros. Brawl OST_

_(Song Begins)_

Terra and Tyranitar, once they finished preparing the cargo helicopter for their departure, simply spent their spare time examining the other cargo helicopters out of boredom. They stopped the instant that they noticed Dusknoir's signal of the initiation of Phase Two of Team Liberator's Plan: a flickering ghostly blue WILL-O-WISP flame that hovered in the air.

With a smirk, they began their patiently-waited part of the plan: the part where they _destroy_ every other vehicle within the Vehicle Room.

The sounds of mashing metal and explosive conflagrations were audible across the building, and fell upon deaf ears to all of the human Team Rocket Grunts—thanks to Dusknoir's and Luxray's previous actions.

Both Pokémon, being the powerhouses that they were, utilized _severely_ stalwart attacks in their disposal. Terra utilized DRAGON CLAW to shred the metal hulls of the various vehicles, EARTH POWER to uproot the lighter vehicles, and OUTRAGE to send vehicles colliding into each other. Tyranitar utilized CRUNCH to mutilate the smaller vehicles, GIGA IMPACT to _pierce_ the larger vehicles with its body, and STONE EDGE to penetrate the fuel tanks of the other vehicles, instantly exploding them and engulfing them in flames.

They made themselves presently euphoric for decimation, one which they will recall happily if they all manage to escape in one piece.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 10)<span>

Time flew by, like Butterfree in the wind, when Phase Two of Team Liberator's Plan was initiated by Lucario and his party of Pokémon. During that time, the other seven Pokémon—excluding Terra's and Tyranitar's metal-mashing destruction orgy—proceeded with their current objectives.

Lucario was quick in assimilating his battle armor onto his being and met up shortly with all of the other Pokémon on the floors above. Dusknoir was as equally quick in gathering the Poké Balls from the first floor and upward.

The omni-present thought that Giovanni was nowhere to be seen gave each and every Pokémon—except for the trash-happy desert beasts in the Vehicle Room—the necessary alertness for each of them to progress steadily and not falter. The mild xenophobia that they all had of what Giovanni can possibly be doing beyond their field of vision kept them moving forward. It made them dexterous in their judgment, focused in their teamwork, and razor sharp in their actions.

The seven Pokémon are reunited in the hallways of Floor 10. The treasure chest already contained the salvaged Poké Balls from the thirtieth floor downward, but has yet to contain those that Dusknoir has salvaged.

Speaking of which, where are the Poké Balls that Dusknoir has collected? None of them were present on its arms.

Dusknoir opens the treasure chest, and then opens the _mouth on its torso_. The throat located behind that mouth is a vortex that leads to unknown whereabouts, where Dusknoir's salvaged Poké Balls temporarily resided in. All of them emerged from Dusknoir and were stored away within the treasure chest. All of the Grunt's captured Pokémon were safely stored away once the lid closed.

Everyone gave odd looks to Dusknoir's recent action.

"_What's the matter with you guys?_" Dusknoir closed the mouth on its belly. "_You all act like you've seen _me_ or something._"

It wanted to say "a Ghost" in place of "me", but that would be cliché, especially coming from a Ghost-Type Pokémon.

"…" The other Pokémon remained silent, never seeing what Dusknoir did before with their respective eyes, despite the fact that they've learned of a Dusknoir's abilities in doing so.

"_Let's just disregard this for now,_" Lucario said. "_We still have Terra and Tyranitar to rendezvous with._"

All of the Pokémon agree with him and carry the treasure chest amongst themselves to the first floor of Team Rocket Main Headquarters. They all still ponder of Giovanni's current whereabouts—Lucario especially—and never cease to think of their plan failing because of him, possibly planning to _counter_-plot against their precariously seditious plotting.

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><em><span>13.3: Divided Departure<span>_

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor 1): Vehicle Room

Time: 4:45 AM

To douse the fires of their carnage, Terra and Tyranitar simultaneously utilize a brutal SANDSTORM, one that covers the entire Vehicle Room and escapes partially from the opened cargo hatch door.

With the fires starved of their oxygen food supply, they died off, moments before Tyranitar "breathes in" the sand with the gaping black holes that were present on its torso and outer thighs.

All of the other Pokémon entered the Vehicle Room, once Terra's and Tyranitar's SANDSTORM disappeared. They all ogled the Mach Pokémon and the Armor Pokémon, whom were standing upright and back-to-back of each other.

Tyranitar chuckled wickedly at the destruction they caused in such a satisfyingly adequate amount of time.

"(You're such an emotional neophyte,)" Terra thought to itself, calming itself immediately after the frenzy.

All of the Pokémon—Aqua (Lapras), Charmeleon, Dusknoir, Lairon, Lucario (Xeno), Luxray, Terra (Garchomp), Tyranitar, and Wanderer—reunited once the sand dissipated.

Lucario, being the overall leader of this group, was the first to speak.

"_For the finale of Phase Two of Team Liberator's Plan,_" Lucario said. "_We all make our escape on the last remaining vehicle of Team Rocket Main Headquarters…_"

Lucario looked over at both Terra and Tyranitar, smiling at their success.

"…_The only one spared by the both of you._"

Terra and Tyranitar high-fived each other's clawed "hands", congratulating each other on a job well done. Everybody else applauded them. Even Aqua, Lairon, and Lapras clapped, despite being the quadrupeds that they presently were.

"_Once we depart Team Rocket Main Headquarters, we'll initiate Phase Three of Team Liberator's Plan. We should leave now, and quickly. I can't help but think that Giovanni is watching us, beyond our reach._" Lucario's voice showed concern, and then his dreadlock-like appendages hovered horizontally and vibrated, only temporarily. "_I can't even sense him around us._"

Everybody nodded in agreement.

The only cargo helicopter that Terra and Tyranitar spared was fully fueled and braced for takeoff. The first Pokémon to enter the twin-rotary machine is Dusknoir, being the designated pilot for the vehicle. Everybody else began to enter, their combined weight _not_ straining the cargo helicopter, since it was intentionally _designed_ to lift tens of tons of weight in one sitting. There was more than enough room within the cargo helicopter for everybody to fit inside of as well, without the need for Lucario to assimilate them back into their respective Poké Balls to conserve space and weight.

Both of the Aura Pokémon and the treasure chest of Poké Balls are the only ones outside of the cargo helicopter. Dusknoir starts the engine, and the familiar high-pitched sound of rotating blades fills the ears of the Pokémon.

This particular gyrating sound resonates more within the minds and memories of both Aura Pokémon, since this was the sound that they heard before their lives permanently changes.

Was it for better or for worse? This question suddenly appeared within their minds.

…Both.

This was their immediate mental response to that question.

They both miss Sceptile and Tiny with all their heart, embracing the bitter truth that they won't be seen again. However, being a part of Team Rocket has allowed them to meet new Pokémon, new lifelong friends, and have a new purpose in their lives. Whether this is a gift or a curse is determined _primarily_ by their actions.

They all agreed to rebel against Team Rocket—against _Giovanni_—and escape. They knew well enough that, whether successfully escaping or not, they were now enemies of Team Rocket. They would be hunted down until the day that they die, running across the planet with Team Rocket hunting them down like a relentless Mightyena pack. They were all strong, and would be together through whatever the future holds for them.

They all hoped.

Wanderer loads itself in first as Lucario hoists the treasure chest with its arms and commences to pass the enclosed trunk to it. Wanderer receives the treasure chest and pushes it to the back of the cargo helicopter, the Poké Ball cargo safe and sound.

Dusknoir begins to take off the vehicle, as Lucario clings onto the outside rails of it with his right paw. Wanderer, before it could lend out its paw for assistance, suddenly notices a _missile_ fired towards them. This missile came at them fast, tearing past the sound barrier in the process.

There's no time for Wanderer to alert Lucario of this approaching threat, however it doesn't need to.

Lucario immediately senses the hostile projectile and raises its other paw in defense. With a flash of extrasensory abilities, a prism-like cubic barrier—LIGHT SCREEN—conceals the entire cargo helicopter, fortifying it against the ballistic attack that is the fired missile.

Unfortunately, Lucario's LIGHT SCREEN technique isn't entirely needed for defending against the missile, because the missile _misses_ the hovering cargo helicopter, _entirely_ in fact. Lucario's LIGHT SCREEN dissipates and the missile leaves through the cargo hatch door, flying onward in the night sky. A small flash of light emanates briefly in the sable setting outside, before a rather loud shockwave reaches the Pokémon on the cargo helicopter.

The next audible sound comes from a familiar enemy.

"Damn Arceus in high Heaven. I missed?"

Every Pokémon on the cargo helicopter knew the identity of the voice. It was none other than Giovanni, whom decided to expose himself to them, showing that he was still here and _against_ their escape. However, there was something considerably different about him, primarily his _external appearance_.

He had a weapon on his being: _battle armor_, far more sophisticated than the battle armor that either Lucario or Mewtwo had ever equipped on them. It covered Giovanni's entire body, including his head, which was exposed momentarily. The armor appeared to be a futuristic version of knight armor, complete with metallic plating that is easily capable of compacting and expanding within its metallic structure.

"They never put in a targeting system on this battle armor yet," Giovanni talked loudly, audible to every Pokémon in front of him. "I pay them tens of millions—no, _hundreds_ of millions—to build this, and they slack off on me." He said this before the missile launcher on his right shoulder folded inside of itself and sunk into the shoulder plate of his battle armor.

All of the Pokémon were astounded at this battle armor, at how sleek and functional it appeared to be. However, they remembered the attempted missile shot, and were downgraded a few notches at how impressed they were at the battle armor, primarily because they were targeted by it.

Lucario, with _his_ battle armor, thinks that some of the Team Rocket files that he uploaded into his helmet reference Giovanni's battle armor. Inconspicuously, he accesses those files and has them appear immediately in his visor's advanced LCD screen.

To put it concisely, Giovanni's battle suit was in development for as long as Giovanni was Team Rocket's Boss. It transcended the battle armor of Lucario's and Mewtwo's. The main objective of this armor is to replicate the power of Pokémon, utilizing the martial data obtained from both Lucario and Mewtwo, and supplement it with the firing weaponry that it already has equipped to it—such as its missile launcher. Due to this data, it is capable of replicating the abilities of Lucario and Mewtwo to a promising degree. However, it is in critical need of extensive testing and calibration, especially since it is only a prototype.

"…" Lucario comprehended the information provided to him by his battle armor. "(So this is your queen in your game of chess...)" He thought before letting go of the cargo helicopter, dropping only a few feet to the floor. "(What is that battle armor capable of?)"

"Mewtwo failed to kill me back at Viridian Gym, only burying me in rubble!" Giovanni spoke to them in obvious frustration. "And injured or not, as long as I'm still _breathing_—" Giovanni inhales deeply, ignoring the dreadful soreness of his abdomen in doing so, "—you _conspirators_ won't!"

Lucario, with little time to ponder or reason, decided on his next action.

"_Wanderer, do you recall Phase Three of Team Liberator's Plan?_" Lucario said, never looking away from Giovanni.

"_You mean the part of the plan where we release all of the Pokémon imprisoned by Team Rocket, in their respective locations?"_ Wanderer recalled flawlessly. _"How can I forget?_"

Giovanni stood devilishly still, like a predator waiting for the prey to die of a mortal wound, waiting patiently for Lucario to finish conversing with his friends.

"_…_" Lucario looked at Giovanni's stagnant state of being. "_I have a new order for you, Wanderer. I want you to initiate Phase Three of Team Liberator's Plan _without_ me and leave this place immediately. I'll stop Giovanni solitarily…or die trying._"

Aqua and Terra immediately recalled the first time that they met Lucario, and recalled their first conversation in flawless detail.

* * *

><p>(Aqua's and Terra's Flashback)<p>

"After all, you both aren't the only ones who've suffered from Team Rocket's malice." _Lucario said this and had immediately rendered both Terra and Aqua surprised._

_"What do you mean?" Aqua was surprised by this unexpected piece of truth._

"They've killed two of my three closest friends… and my third friend is somewhere amongst Team Rocket as well…" _Lucario shed a couple of tears before wiping them away. "(I can sense it… Wanderer's around here in this room…somewhere…and unconscious…)"_

_"…" Both Terra and Aqua were stunned by Lucario's back story._

"Because of this, I despise Team Rocket and wish to decimate it and leave no record of its existence," _Lucario gritted his teeth with hate._ "I hate their leader—Giovanni—the most and would love to see him tortured alive before dying the worst way possible…through _my_ power."

_ The feelings of suffering, as well as the dark yellow aura surrounding them, began to lift away from both Terra and Aqua as Lucario continued inspiring them with his powerful words._

"I'll fight to the _death_ if I have to, in order to save all of the Pokémon within Team Rocket's shackles and then _crush_ Giovanni with my bare paws." _Lucario lifted both of his paws to his face, looked at them, and flexed them a few times before setting them aside._

"_It would be near impossible to do this, _alone_ especially,_" _Terra exposed an important hindrance about Lucario's future goals._

"I know…" _Lucario said with ease, admitting the difficulty of the enormous task in front of him._

"_You may _die_ in failure,_" _Aqua exposed another hindrance about Lucario's future goals._

"As long as I accomplish something that continues beyond my life, I'll die fighting," _Lucario spoke once more, fearlessly about death and failure._

* * *

><p>(End of Aqua's and Terra's Flashback)<p>

"_I_ _won't guarantee that we'll meet again after this—_"

"_No_," Wanderer began to sob. "_I won't allow it. I won't allow you to—_"

"_Dusknoir!_" Lucario boomed his telepathic voice. "_I order you to steer this metal monstrosity out of here! Get everybody far away from here and to safety! Initiate Phase Three _without _me!_"

Lucario reaches for his belt and quickly removes their respective Poké Balls, leaving the unoccupied Luxury Ball alone, and deposits them on the floor of the airborne cargo helicopter.

"(In case we don't see each other again…)"

The common reaction of Lucario's fellow Pokémon was sadness—except Tyranitar, who was just impatient—at how noble he was at _choosing_ to stay behind and fight Giovanni. Some just shed a few tears, but Wanderer was surprisingly sorrowful. They have never seen this side of it before, not even Lucario, whom has known it for most of his life.

"_I can't lose you like we did with Sceptile and Tiny, Lucario! They meant a lot to us and they died under _his_ hands! Do you know what kind of a person Giovanni is? He had you murder other Pokémon, because they were _inferior_! He will _murder_ you, like he did with Sceptile and Tiny!_"

"…" Lucario never looked away from Giovanni, not wanting to expose himself to a surprise attack, and not wanting to show Wanderer that it was getting to him emotionally.

A few of Lucario's tears dribbled down the visor, and took shelter in his fur collar. He recalled painfully how Giovanni and his Team Rocket Grunts murdered their friends, captured them both, and had him "dispose" of feeble Pokémon and capture stronger Pokémon. All of it was true and the emotional pain of it was detrimentally real.

The fact that Lucario didn't so much as give Wanderer a sideways glance further marred the light-furred Aura Pokémon. "_We both loved them like family! You, Sceptile, Tiny, and me! We were inseparable, us four! You and I are the only ones left, and yet you're willing to sacrifice yourself—_"

"_Shut up and _think _for once!_" Lucario snarled out of impatience.

Wanderer temporarily stopped breathing when Lucario barked at it.

"_One of us has to stay behind in order to stall Giovanni, so that everyone else can escape without interruption! I'm _blessing_ you with vital time, time which _you're_ squandering_ _over by _bawling!"

"(*Sniff*)" Wanderer was unsympathetically silenced because Lucario struck a critical point in this imperative situation.

"…" Underneath the visor of his battle armor, Lucario's eyes glowed briefly before the cargo helicopter's side door closed telekinetically. Lucario chose not to say another word to Wanderer, knowing that he had unrestrictedly wounded the light-furred Aura Pokémon's emotions.

And with that, Dusknoir immediately punched the engine of the cargo helicopter, having the twin-rotary blades revolve harder, lifting it higher. Lucario, standing directly beneath the cargo helicopter, was unmoved—except for his shuffling fur—by the gale produced. Dusknoir dexterously steered the massive vehicle out of the exit and _away_ from Team Rocket Main Headquarters.

Lucario discreetly activated his Aura Vision ability to observe the after effects of his "conversation" with Wanderer. He notices quite clearly that Wanderer was no longer physically _present_ within the helicopter, and how everybody else appeared to understand Lucario's outburst. One Pokémon, Lairon, was calmly storing everyone else's Poké Balls in a safe location, while patting Wanderer's Great Ball before setting it aside as well. Lucario immediately confirmed that Wanderer retreated into its Great Ball, too emotionally shattered to remain outside.

Or perhaps Wanderer wanted some private time to ponder what it misunderstood? Or perhaps Wanderer simply decided to sulk in solemn peace? Lucario doesn't know. He's not psychic—or at least not able to peer within Poké Balls—and therefore knows nothing of its current actions.

"(If I survive past today, I'll be sure to comfort you by apologizing for my time-restricted actions,)" Lucario thought to himself. "(I just hope that you've understood this critical situation better by then.)"

"I don't need the battle armor's sensitive microphones to listen to what you had to say to your friend…Xeno," Giovanni spoke.

"_Speaking to me with my 'pet' name, I see…_" Lucario briefly removed his helmet and scrubbed his eyes dry in the process when he said this quick remark.

"For someone who's compassionate with friends, you acted rather harshly to one of your own."

"_Not that it concerns you, but I'll apologize to Wanderer once we meet again._"

"You'll apologize to it. I'll see to that, when I send you _both_ to Hell." Giovanni formed a battle stance, eager for a fight. The shapeless metal of his battle armor extended outward from his collar and completely covered his face in the form of a helmet, visor and all.

"A_ possibility…_" Lucario formed his natural battle stance. "_…that I'll fight to prevent._"

* * *

><p>"There are times where you have to defend yourself or someone else against relentless evil. And some of those times the only defense that has any hope of succeeding is a one-time use of brutal, devastating force. At such times good people act brutally." —Orson Scott Card (342) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

* * *

><p>Thirteen chapters in, and over 200,000 words in length. This is only my first story. I can't wait to see how far I can go from here.<p>

As usual, I update my profile beforehand. I added "Chapter VII (7)", its subtitles, songs, and end quote onto my "Table of Contents", and have update Lucario's new move set with those new techniques that I mentioned.

I really don't have anything more to say, except for two things:

1. College is going great for me. The workload is manageable and the classes are fun. Just recently, I learned how to restrain canines and felines.

2. My next couple of chapters cycle back and forth between both settings. "Chapter VIII (8)" goes back to Eduardo's side of this story.

Until then, I'll see you all later. And please review to leave your thoughts if you can.


	14. Chapter VIII (8)

...

...

...Huh...

Aside from the fact that I've surpassed 1,800 hits for this story, my profile is updated in the "Table of Contents" and "Elemental Aura" sections, and that this chapter has only one song utilized (a stronger battle theme from _Kingdom Hearts_), I don't have too much to say right now.

Maybe if I think about it for a moment.

...

...

...Let's see, I'm reading _The Hunger Games_ and find myself two-hundred pages in. It's an EXTREMELY good book and equal to _Ender's Game_ in terms of how much I'm absorbed into the pages. And if it's anything like _Ender's Game_ was to me, I'll get the other books that supersede it.

...

In college, its midterm week, and I feel as though I've got nothing to worry about, so long as I study beforehand.

...

In my job at Subway, my boss is about to return from his vacation. This will mean I FINALLY get a day off soon, having not received one this month (of course, this means I'll be greatly rewarded monetarily). Also at work, I got yelled at by an obnoxious obese bastard. First time something like that has happened to me since I began working late September. He had me stay in late at work one day, so I hope I never see him again, which seems likely if his weight doesn't crush him first.

...

I'm currently sorting my Pokemon card and Yu-Gi-Oh! card collection. I have a few thousand of each, of ALL types of cards, and I'm using Microsoft Word 2007 to create checklists as to which cards I have from their respective booster packs. Afterwards, I'll ponder selling the extras on eBay or Amazon.

...

I can drive now. :D

...

And that's about it.

Now for this chapter, Eduardo has himself a clash with familiar enemies. But what makes this different is that Eduardo awakens something deep within himself.

This should be interesting.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter VIII (8): The Dormant Beast within Me<strong>

Location: 20N, 40E (Village)

Date: January 1st, 60 A.D.

Time: 11:45 AM

Sable smoke filled the sky faster than a sandstorm could ever hope to. Devastating conflagrations burned most of the buildings of the villagers to ash, while others remained mostly intact, for the time being. The cause of the fires was from the fire arrows that the Roman soldiers utilized. Most of the original legion of 500 was still standing and stalwart, while the village rebellion was gradually withering away in numbers.

Mars, the Roman General assigned by the Roman Emperor to lead this legion of soldiers, stood watching, with a frustrated countenance.

One of his fellow soldiers approaches him. "Sir, is something the matter?" The concerned subordinate asked his superior.

"_It's_ not here," Mars said, looking feverishly at the small village's limited residences. "The one that spared my life in battle… I don't see it anywhere."

"I can't imagine why it matters so much to you. You said that it practically had your life in its hand," The soldier said. "Why do you wish to encounter _it_ again?"

"Revenge," Mars gripped the handle of his sheathed sword by his right side. "I want revenge on that bastard. I want to fight it to the death, the next time I see it. I deem it worthy of my presence, and I'll kill it when we meet again."

"I seriously doubt it'd be here after your last visit one month ago. Who knows how far it could've wandered from this village."

"I'm well aware of that, underling!" Mars scowled. "However, if it's not here, I'll just continue with the mission, replacing it and killing Eduardo, whom appeared from nowhere to be amongst us today."

Mars smirked and unsheathed his sword, a mid-length sword of three feet, double-edged and forged proficiently.

"He appears incapable of using his power today, much to my luck today. I'll behead him with my sword and claim his alien belongings as my own." He smiles widely, like a cheerful chimpanzee, and looks at the sky momentarily. "I can see it now. I'll put his head and his items on my house's walls, trophies for which I can gaze on between every mission that I'm assigned!"

When Mars begins to cackle to himself, the soldier had this to say.

"Don't you think you're in over your head? Both it _and_ Eduardo are freaks of nature, far too powerful for _any_ ordinary human to defeat. Both of them are malignant to be around. I recall you saying that when you fought _it_ a month ago, you were spared your life and given its entire name out of pity. If you almost died against it, what makes you think that Eduardo, be he restricted or not of his abilities, will likely show _you_ any mercy?" The soldier spoke sagaciously, with the intelligence and experience of a man _thrice_ his age.

However, as is common in society, intelligence is often smothered by imbecility.

"…" Mars was silent after hearing what his subordinate had to say, his anger about to overflow in one swift movement. With his sword in hand, he swung it lethally to the soldier's neck, with enough horizontal momentum to cut cleanly across and _through_ the soldier's neck.

The soldier never saw the sword swing coming, and was beheaded in only a second. The head of the body of the soldier fell to the floor, while the body of the soldier toppled over afterward. Blood drained out of the soldier's neck, from _both_ halves.

No other soldier said otherwise, or spoke against their commanding General, for they knew him well enough to not question his motives.

"With proficient swordsmanship like mine," Mars looked at the detached head of his disposable soldier, "Eduardo's head is fatalistically on my wall now, along with his equipment."

* * *

><p><em><span>14.1: The Awakened Beast within Me<span>_

Location: Village (My Home)

Time: 11:54 AM

All three of us, Costas, Ian, and I, reached the surface of our house and exited through the entrance door. Our five eyes—two for each of my brothers, and my un-patched right eye—are instantly lured to the burning houses and local despair that surrounded us. The village rebellion, before our eyes, is easily subdued, with more than half of the village population dead or punctured by flaming arrowheads and set ablaze before toppling over themselves. Those that remained were all showing assorted signs of injury, some wounded enough to the point where they were unable to defend themselves against most of the stalwart Roman soldiers that remained.

The scene was so chaotic that all three of us—mostly Costas and Ian—were in shock at the destruction. I stepped twenty feet ahead of them both, automatically and with little awareness of my actions.

Costas and Ian, once they avert their eyes from this melancholy sight and notice my location, see me clenching my hands into fists rather tightly, with the collection of veins that I _already_ had viewable on the backs of my hands swelling up with blood and stress. The rattling of my fists causes my brothers to assume that I'm enraged, which is seldom seen of my constitution.

Mars easily sees me from a distance and with his sword in hand, charges towards me thoughtlessly, more or less. All he had in his mind was "(I have you now, Eduardo!)".

Seconds go by before he comes within thirty feet of me, where he does the unthinkable.

Mars puts on the brakes and ingrains his _heels_ onto the sand, standing motionless, eyes widened at my being. Costas and Ian, speculating that my clenched fists were a sign of rage, now witnessed otherwise.

My trembling fists began to resonate over to the remainder of my body, as if I was undergoing a muscular spasm. This trembling turns greatly abnormal when _blood_ begins to dribble down my arms. The blood isn't simply present around my arms either. It begins to make itself present _ubiquitously_, seeping into my basic clothing with its quantity. My white shirt begins to turn sanguine, and the area of sand around my footing turns muddy with my blood.

_**Hiss!**_

But what's this! My blood begins to hiss like a snake. The reason is simple to Costas, Ian, and I. My blood is becoming _acidic_, transmogrifying itself to burn through _almost_ anything.

The acidic blood begins to eat away at the eye patch over my left eye, as well as my entire wardrobe choice. It burns through my entire clothing, albeit slowly and in patches. The same blood that's dripping onto the sand on the floor, and even my _skin_, is burning away as well. The only thing that the blood _doesn't_ burn through is my cutting-edge technology, and their respective holster/shoulder strap. The acidic blood expels white smoke as it is eating away at whatever it is burning, exhaust of both compounds.

The painful sensation I was currently feeling was equal to sousing myself in hydrochloric acid—a memory that I recall vaguely, when my stomach was virtually sliced in half by an artillery round. I found it difficult to breathe or _scream_, and was gritting my teeth to borderline fracturing them under the pressure of my jaws' bite force. My eyes were bloodshot and rattling uncontrollably.

I was in absolute agony.

Mars obtains a bow and an enflamed arrow from a fellow soldier nearby him. He lines up his shot and with a grin, fires the conflagration arrow at me. The arrow pierces my torso, wedging into my left ribcage and _puncturing_ my left lung, all before melting away entirely from the acidic blood. Breathing became that much harder for me, especially since my _blood_ caught on fire from the arrow, and I was quickly set ablaze.

My brain, my 10,000 I.Q. brain, was reduced to moronic levels of spastic thought. I was hardly able to mentally curse at my predicament. All I could do was to stand upright—through pure willpower—and endure the pain, the third-degree burns, the cramping of my chest wall from my punctured left lung, and the tremendous _heat_.

Costas, Ian, and Mars watched on at my constitution, with an odd mixture of unusual astonishment and utter dread, for they thought I should've been dead for now. Then again, I should've been dead through what I've endured _before_, from what they recalled of my past here.

Once the flame surrounded me entirely, the pain suddenly mollified to virtual nothingness when my _heart_ stopped beating. "(What's going on with me?)" Was what I was trying to think, but was unable to.

The next thing I notice, my body begins to swell.

With what little nerve activity I had active for me, I could feel my bones and muscles changing shape. My tendons were growing with them as well. The agony of burning flesh mollified, almost as if I was losing skin to burn. Before I could make sense of this phenomenon, I felt a sharp sensation between both of my scapulas (shoulders) and my coccyx (tailbone). I could only tell from my shadow what was occurring behind me.

To my surprise, I notice two large _wings_ and a fifteen-foot-long _tail_ spontaneously emerge from my body. Their appearance struck a chord of nostalgia within me, one which wasn't damaged yet by the bodily inferno I was undergoing. The two wings and tail however, were on fire, but not _burning_, like my skin, simply because they had some acidic blood residue on them. My wings flop in front of my face, and I notice that they were _scaled_.

"(Oh…shit…)" I thought, with what little ability I had to at the moment, and with whatever willpower I could muster to do so.

I knew what I was becoming as I endured this. I'm undergoing a metamorphosis, into a _dragon_.

Below my eyes, I could see my face elongating and widening, right in _front_ of me. My teeth sharpen and stick out externally and in an outward angle from my lengthened mouth. The back of my jaw grows several bone spikes as my neck elongates _five times_ its normal length. Spines stick out of the back of my stretching neck, across the back of my spine, and stop two feet from the tip of my new tail. My fingernails and toenails grow thicker and longer, in conjunction with my enlarging hands and feet, which gradually grew more lizard-like, yet somewhat retaining a shred of their human-like shape.

Everyone whose eyes are locked on to my transmogrification watch on with assorted emotions and scattered thoughts.

Costas and Ian, showing the most concern over my well-being, wonder when my metamorphosis will end for me. After all, they see me now at more than _twice_ my normal height, coiled up yet still upright, and dripping with burning acidic blood. They wonder why I'm not screaming my vocal chords into submission.

Or at least, they used to think that.

When my heart resumed beating, my head tilted to the sky and I _finally_ let out a scream, a sharp scream of misery and pain, one that _itself_ transmogrifies from a human wail into an ear-piercing, earth-rattling roar of a _dragon_. The scream triggered a powerful shockwave that originated from my position. The shockwave instantly knocks everyone back and douses all fires, my own and the house's fires, sparing either of us from further damage.

Humans fly across the sky and a cloud of sand conceals the entire village briefly. Costas, Ian, and Mars are knocked back the farthest, being the _closest_ around me. Both of my friends find shelters when they're backs become pinned to the walls of their house, held in place for the duration of the shockwave.

Mars however, he sails back _hundreds_ of feet backwards, along with the rest of his legion.

The villagers find shelter within their homes, albeit are astonished and frightened when they hear their homes rattle under my power.

The shockwave lasts for a full five seconds. Once it stopped, Costas and Ian slid down the vertical wall and onto the sandy ground below, stunned and barely able to control the rattling that their legs were doing. They're mildly shaken by the force of my shockwave and almost lose their balance in the process.

Mars and his soldiers, most of them, regain their footing and brush off their collected sand. The majority of them are just as shaken as Costas and Ian are, however their past martial training keeps their physical posture in check.

Everybody's ears are temporarily ringing and partially disabled, especially those of Costas, Ian, and Mars.

Once the sand resides back on top of the ground and the sand has been wiped off of most people's eyes, everybody gazed upon me at what I've become.

I was now a full-fledges dragon, albeit collapsed on top of my newly-formed clawed hands and legs, breathing heavily and expelling _fire_ with each exhalation, regaining my _severely_ damaged composure after the dreadfully malignant transformation I just underwent. My expanded heart pounded away at my new inner ears, and my enlarged left lung painfully struggled to mimic my equally-enlarged right lung in inflation, causing great internal discomfort. The acidic blood that I had remaining on me simply rolled off of my new scaly skin—apparently having emerged from underneath my burning layer of former skin—and burned away inside of the sand. The blood _itself_ transformed as well, along with my new body, albeit much sooner than the rest of me.

My enlarged brain slowly returned to normal functionality and it was now that I realized something unusual about myself. Aside from transforming into what I fought ten-and-a-half years ago, I regained vision on my _left_ eye. My eyes themselves, aside from doubling in size to match my new body, haven't changed in terms of color—they still remained ash black and human-like. Beside this, my strapped equipment remained completely unmarred, albeit smelled strongly of blood and melted tissue.

Unfortunately, my sense of smell was heightened drastically during my metamorphosis.

Blood continues to run out of my puncture would on my left ribcage, and would simply trickle down my clawed hand when I attempted to plug up the wound. Most of the muscle fatigue that I've endured—_miraculously_ I might add—has partially abated. My wings and tail unsurprisingly _lack_ that fatigue, regardless of what their dropped posture might lead people to believe, especially since they recently emerged from me and feel brand new biologically.

I only wish that my breathing would mollify, but perhaps I could correct this with my abilities.

Mars, once he locks eyes with me once more, grins at the sight of me. I lift my tired, massive head to see him from the distance and notice his evil countenance. I see him charging towards me once more, with his sword in hand. I'm able to estimate the time it would take him to close the gap in distance between us: sixty seconds.

Because my brain has stabilized after this demanding ordeal, I'm able to think rationally now. I recall how _resilient_ I am to fatigue, albeit not entirely _immune_ to fatigue. I simply _tolerate_ it better than anybody else that I know, especially because of my phenomenal physical endurance. And even with my current state of fatigue, I attempt to focus my _Elemental Aura_ abilities across my body, and find myself meekly surprised at how sudden they've returned to me.

On the other hand, I find it _more_ surprising that this new body of mine isn't as _surprising_ as I thought it would leave me.

Is it because I've encountered a dragon of similar form long ago? Or, less likely, is it because I've _become_ this beast before, and have a faint recollection deep within my subconscious of this form?

Regardless of this unlikely nostalgia, I'll simply use these _two_ weapons at my disposal to kill off the Romans: my _draconic_ abilities and my Elemental Aura abilities.

My sixty seconds of thinking were up. Mars was now in front of me, jumping in the air with his sword in hand and behind his back, attempting to maximize forward momentum to bring his sword down on my head. However, I wouldn't give him this pleasure, especially since I thought these two key words while having my entire body and eyes spontaneously emanate Orange (Melee) Aura.

"(_Martial Quicken_!)"

Mars dropped his sword on his target—me—, and I was no longer in his path. Only a small cloud of sand drifted upward by the disturbance of his sword, _not_ by my sudden evasion. He, Costas, and Ian were all flabbergasted at my speed, and wondered where I went.

* * *

><p><em><span>14.2: The Awakened Beast's Rage<span>_

Location: Village (Outskirts)

Time: 12:03 PM

_The Deep End/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD2 - Kingdom Hearts OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Where the Roman soldiers were _most_ concentrated was the place that I chose to reappear. I appeared from _below_ the sand, releasing another shockwave, only this time it was stronger. My roar was put into it, along with the power of my Light Green (Wind) Aura.

My aura dissipated after the shockwave and I found soldiers fifty feet _above_ me, flailing their limbs to failingly reclaim their balance. The fall back to Earth, to some of them, _crippled_ them, and instantly killed the fair amount of those that fell on top of their _own_ weapons.

Quickly, I found myself surrounded by the soldiers behind the ones that I catapulted into the air. I begin to counterattack the soldiers daring enough to attempt to attack me. A few jabs to the face, claw swipes that removed facial features on contact, elbow jabs to the sternum, a broad wing-spin to topple legs, a roundhouse kick to shove away, and a tail swing to the neck were sufficient in keeping the soldiers at bay, until they decided to concentrate their numbers.

One soldier hopped on top of my back, and I grabbed his torso and threw him dozens of feet away. In his place, three more soldiers clung to my torso, pinning my arms in the process. Before I could flap my wings, _more_ soldiers got on my back again, and their weight toppled me over to the sand.

Once I was entirely on the ground, they all begin to stab at me in random with the weaponry that they currently brandished. The pain I was feeling, surprisingly, was the equivalent of inserting a needle to draw blood. My scaly skin proved to be quite useful as a sword deterrent, since they were having trouble just getting _through_ my dragon hide.

"(_Aero Back Draft_!)" I thought and my body brilliantly flashed Light Green (Wind) Aura once more. An explosion of wind followed forth and a dome of Roman soldiers existed within the air. The dome of soldiers stretched wider and wider across the air around me, before it collapsed and shattered onto the floor.

I found myself terribly fatigued, but quickly get back on my feet regardless and notice how feeble their attack was on my scaly skin. "(They didn't even draw blood,)" I thought, astounded at the strength of this new skin.

Mars watches on at my fury and orders the distant archers to open fire at me. The soldiers at a distance from me did so. In an instant, fifty arrows were fired in rapid succession and dug into my skin, deeper than the Romans' swords were able to, but not enough to pierce any vital organs. Blood was drawn, albeit in miniscule amounts. The arrows, feeling my acidic blood stain their arrowheads, dissolved on contact, fell onto the sandy floor, and disappeared outright. These wounds were the equivalent of having cactus spines pierce flesh, and my blood would coagulate and heal momentarily as I fight.

I appear to fall over in pain, but that was merely my vision fading away briefly due to fatigue. My dragon body begins to briefly glow Red (Fire) Aura, the moment the thought "(_Pyro Pillar_!)" enters my mind.

I fly upward in—as my thought suggested—a pillar of fire. The necessary flapping of my wings helps me remain airborne and hover above the Roman soldiers, 100 feet in the air. I begin to focus Yellow (Lightning) Aura in my _mouth_ and breathe out lightning under the thought "(_Electro Bolt Breath_!)"

Static electricity quickly formed as I inhaled—painfully due to my collapsed lung injury—and when I exhaled, bolts of lightning quickly fired and _fried_ the soldiers that it struck, welding their flesh onto their armor in a manner most painful.

Only the archers remain, and they resume firing arrows at me as I hover above them menacingly. I decide to fall back onto the floor, landing on a couple of archers in the process, crushing their skeletal structures under my greater mass and partially burying them into the sand.

The remaining archers are treated to one of my newer Elemental Aura Abilities: Light Blue (Ice) Aura. My mouth switches from emanating its current aura to Light Blue (Ice) Aura. My breath becomes visible due to flash-frozen vapor. The arrows that they fired at me were simply deflected by a potent combination of distance and my scaly hide.

As I inhale deeply—and reluctantly—, I ponder "(_Cryo Frost Breath_!)" When I exhale, I fire a concentrated white fog of below-freezing vapor that travels immediately to the archers. They are all frozen solid within seconds of intense cold contact that _crystallized_ their beings.

To dispose of them, I simply walk over to their locations and strike one blow onto them, a downward swing of my arm. They _shatter_ as if they were brittle glass, and blood seeps from their shattered flesh once it begins to thaw in the sunlight.

_(Song Ends)_

In case there were surviving Roman soldiers remaining, I scanned the area with both of my eyes, their vision sharpened considerably by my metamorphosis. No more Roman soldiers remain.

Before finishing off the only Roman remaining—the fearless Mars—, I consider healing myself of this bothersome collapsed lung injury by using a combination of Elemental Aura abilities. I would first utilize my Light Green (Wind) Aura ability to siphon the foreign air away from my lung cavity and then, with my finger acting as a plug for the hole in my chest, utilize my Green (Healing) Aura to rapidly heal my injury, this one and the ones I've sustained.

However, there was just one small problem with that.

Due to this transformation, I've found my Elemental Aura abilities to be at near critical levels, to the point where the abilities become malignant to my health if I sustained them for too long a time period. Complimented with my _herculean_ levels of fatigue, I was hardly able to focus myself in using my abilities. I could see my field of vision warping in front of me, the rich colors that I was able to perceive blending together and staining each other.

I was at the point of falling over unconscious. However, I was suddenly snapped back into focus and fully alert of my surroundings.

The cause of this: a downward sword chop that Mars delivered onto the middle of my draconic skull.

The sudden jolt of this sword impact caused me to flap my wings forcefully. In doing so, Mars let go of the sword that was wedged onto my skull and we drifted apart by my powerful gale, about thirty feet each of us. The instant I stop moving backwards, the sword lodged onto my head fell off, covered in my acidic dragon blood and eaten away in seconds. The impact didn't dig into my head any further and only cut through the skin, stopping at the surface of the _bone_. The top of my head resembled a tear in the stitching of tight-fitting pants.

Disregarding the blood running profusely down my head and dripping onto the sandy floor below—melting away afterward—, I simply rubbed the top of my head. I felt how smooth the bare bone of my skull was, and I didn't show _any_ signs of pain—due to my sheer tolerance to fatigue and pain—despite this laceration of all of the layers of skin. I simply growled softly.

In doing this, I noticed Mars look at me with an abnormal look of _horror_. He was weaponless, and retrieving another weapon before I intercepted him would fail, especially after how I took blows from arrows, fire, and swords, and emerged _alive_. He stood there and eyed me like a corned mouse ogled a cat. I eyed him too, and an odd thought emerged in my head, perhaps from the scratching I was doing on my naked skull.

"(Before killing him, I should toy with him one time)," I thought, having _my_ turn at grinning devilishly this time. My grin was a wide scaly grin that brought out the nature of my massive white teeth. It made Mars step back in fear, almost falling over from the rubber-like properties that his legs were gaining.

I simply had my mouth flash briefly Fire (Red) Aura, thought "(_Pyro Scorch Breath_!)" and fired an amplified and concentrated fireball towards Mars.

I deliberately missed hitting Mars and fired at an area closely in front of his feet. An explosion of fire and sand flew up into the air around him, clouding his vision in a plume of dust. The shock of my attack caused him to reel back and fall on his rear end, where his fall was cushioned by a certain brown substance.

"(Oh God…)" Mars thought with apprehension. "(…I just crapped myself!)"

With the plume of sand still clouding his vision, Mars gets up with closed eyes, shaken legs—and contaminated armor. He was hyperventilating heavily and his legs couldn't stop shaking, no matter how hard he forced himself to mollify. He covered his mouth to prevent sand from entering his lungs and breathed through the sleeve of the woolen tunic shirt that he wore.

Before he knew it, his legs _stopped shaking_, but his hyperventilating only worsened.

I flapped my wings from _behind_ him to blow away all of the sand surrounding us. In doing so, everybody else was able to see the two of us.

I had Mars completely subdued with my left hand and tail. My left hand gripped his neck and helmet simultaneously, preventing the Roman General to look back at me. My tail was coiled around his legs, wrapped tightly a few times over around his ankles, preventing him from flailing his legs at me. I held him out at a distance and with a grip forceful enough that made his arms relatively useless as well.

He was still hyperventilating, and I don't blame him. After all, depending on my next choice of actions, he only has seconds to live.

With my right hand, and a solemn countenance, I generated the remainder of my reservoir of aura in the form of Light Green (Wind) Aura, which I _compacted_ into the palm of my hand. "(_Aero Typhoon Palm_!)" I thought as the Light Green (Wind) Aura began to swirl a few inches above the palm of my hand.

The gale I was generating was as loud as a roaring tornado, and equally as potent, kicking up large quantities of sand between us and creating another cloud of dust around us. The sphere of wind that I was generating was compacted to a size relatively larger than that of my S1-GS device. Once it was large enough, I stopped using what little aura I had in reserve to power the _Aero Typhoon Palm_ and used it to contain and supply the roaring sphere of wind.

I began to torture Mars further by ominously approaching the sphere to his back plate of armor. Once the _Aero Typhoon Palm_ touched something that disrupted its concentrated gale of violently swirling energy, it would instantly explode in the direction of the zone that it was disrupted in.

You can imagine what would result of to Mars if that occurred.

Mars could hear the roar of the _Aero Typhoon Palm_ grow louder and stronger in potency. He struggled as hard as he could but was restrained further by my left hand and tail. His neck was almost cut off of blood by my stalwart grip. His hands proved useless to pry my hand from his neck. He tried to think of how to get out of this, and was only able to ponder one that just _might_ work in having me spare his life.

He would try it out, for the sake of his life and to gain what mercy I might have.

"Eduardo, please! Spare me from your destructive wrath! Please! Spare me with what mercy you might have under that dry, scaly hide of yours!" Mars began to plea for my mercy, with words draining out him like his sanity and chances for survival, putting enough tone in his voice to overcome the volume of one of my dozens of aura techniques.

I was fully capable of hearing his pleas over the mighty gale that I was holding, thanks to my sensitive sense of hearing—which was unnecessarily heightened further with this form. However, his petition was fallen on _deliberately_ deaf inner ears. I continued to close the gap between his back armor plate and my _Aero Typhoon Palm_, feigning loss of hearing and expressing a lack of concern.

This only made Mars beg harder for his life.

"Oh God, bless me with the protection that you have to give me against this _abomination_ of nature!" Mars prayed and looked up at the sunlight reflecting off of the cloud of sand.

"(I'm going to kill you now!)" I retracted my right arm as far back as I was able to and prepped myself to thrust it forward and deliver the energy onto him. I snarled demonically before doing so.

"If you let me go, Eduardo, I'll leave this village and retire from my profession as General! I beg of you! Don't kill me!"

It was now or never for Mars. He played his trump card, hoping that it was potent enough.

"Does it not _interest_ you of what I have to say about the _visitor_ that came here one month ago?"

"…" I froze in place and silenced myself, my arm stopping midway before hitting him, my grip never easing up on him for a second. What he said just now, albeit unexpected, interested me, and to show Mars that I was interested, I shook him gently—to the best of my ability—with my left arm to have him talk further.

"That _bitch_ of a visitor came here one month ago and decided to spare me out of mercy!" Mars began to describe what he had to say. "I came here one month ago, with a legion of 500 soldiers, waiting to burn this place into the ground. We were tipped of your banishment and came here as fast as we could move. Without you in sight, my victory over here was guaranteed!"

"(This is what Costas and Ian meant to tell me?)" I thought, listening attentively, yet not dissipating my aura technique.

"However, _it_ decided to protect this village, out of some…" Mars lifted his hands in front of his chest and twitched his first two fingers, "…'I'll-scratch-your-back-and-you'll-scratch-mine' crap. _It_ showed abilities similar to those of your own. It was fully capable of speech, but didn't open its mouth! Its appearance…it was and was _not_ _human!_ And in the end, that alien of nature spared me and decided to wash me away north on the Red Sea, giving me its entire _name_ out of pity."

"…" I processed the information Mars told me in a heartbeat—thankful that my heart resumed beating earlier—, attempting to imagine how _it_ was able to decimate a legion of 500 Roman soldiers with abilities similar to my own.

Mars's breathing stabilized and his tone of voice seemed full of hope. "If you let me go," he said, "I'll tell you what it told me. I'll tell you its name."

"(I wonder what Costas's and Ian's side of this story is,)" I thought, barely noticing Mars's words. "(I'm sure that they acquainted themselves with it in some way.)"

"Well? Do we have a deal: my freedom, for information on a being that is, from my experience, _parallel_ to you?"

"…" I pondered this over, long enough for Mars to grow uneasy again.

"…I'm begging you!" His voice turned sour again. "Spare me and take my deal—"

"**Go to hell!**" I actually _spoke_ while in this form, albeit not in my normal human tone of voice. The voice that resided on this body was _entirely_ different from my normal voice. My first voice, adolescent and wise beyond my age, now became this _second_ voice, deep, malicious, and capable of rumbling the earth.

"W-What d-did you say?"

"**Go to hell! Tell it to the Devil when you meet Him!**" I raised my right hand back as far as it could go, once more.

"…**!**" Mars screamed at the top of his lungs, his mouth opened wider than he ever thought physically possible, to the point where his jaws almost popped out of their sockets. His life ends here, and he knew it.

My hand, with the _Aero Typhoon Palm_ technique still flaring strongly, was planted swiftly onto his back. And instantly, the attack _detonated_, with all of its churning energy directed _forward_, as I intended.

Because the energy was so greatly concentrated, Mars's entire midsection _exploded_ outward, with blood spraying forward and partially mixing into the airborne sand. This _sanguine_ dust cleared after the directed explosion dispersed across the air. The scene that everybody was capable of viewing was bordering on the lines of absolute madness and scarring of the psychology.

I was still holding onto Mars in the same way as before, only my right hand was where his armored back is. From his backside, Mars appeared completely normal, his armor having only dented slightly from the back.

From his _front_ side however, he was clearly cadaverous. The armor plating on his front side completely blew off and what remained was in the shape of scrap metal. His entire midsection was _obliterated_. Mars appeared completely gutted, as if given a raw and nightmarish necropsy, having lost all of his internal organs after the _Aero Typhoon Palm_ activated and resolved. His internal organs were _nowhere_ to be seen, having torn up under the immense turbulence of the gale and dissipated in the form of miniscule bits and _sanguine_ dust. Only the _back_ of his ribcage, scapula, and spine were present on his internal cavities, stained red from the _massive_ hemorrhaging that I had him sustain. Pools of blood and _bone_ fragments were in front of Mars's brutally deceased body, scattered both far and near him.

Also, since he was stuck screaming at the top of his lungs, his face stuck in the last position that it was presently before his untimely demise. His eyes and his mouth were agape, widely. It was unanimously a horrifying sight to see: Mars appearing to scream in pain post-death, with his entire midsection hollowed out as if he were a cow, butchered for its meat.

Since I delivered the impact onto him—and therefore knew well enough of the results of my actions—, I decided to the dispose of the body already.

Looking at the Red Sea—the sea that Mars mentioned earlier—I uncoiled my tail grip on his ankles and threw his body there with all my strength, sending him flying into the water, where the backside of his body slapped the surface of the sea. His hollow chest cavity then flooded with sea water. And eventually, his body could no longer maintain buoyancy with the water weight and inevitably submerged underneath the surface.

Mars's corpse left behind a sanguine trail as it descended further and further within the sea, eternally lost and in a dreg of time, forgotten.

With no one left to fight against—I hoped for the sake of my aura and my health—, I faced my house and slowly and languidly proceeded to my home, one beastly and heavy foot at a time. My fading vision barely showed me the presence of Costas and Ian, whom were still outside of their house. The bloody trail that dripped off of my head was leaving behind a trail in my forward gait, burning small trenches into the sand. My breath was slow and painful, mostly in part to my earlier collapsed lung injury.

I walked past the damaged villager's homes, dragging my tail in the sand, which overlapped the trenches that my blood was creating, fatigued to lift it or to care about it. With each retarded step that I took, the villagers looked on at me, observing me from varying points of view and distances, thinking to themselves varying thoughts about me.

Finally, I made it back to the entrance of my house, where Costas and Ian are there waiting for me. I stood still in front of them, and as far as I could perceive—due to my warping vision—, they showed no fear of me.

In fact, they were more curious and awestruck at my appearance and my endurance. They couldn't begin to _fathom_ how I was able to obliterate 500 Roman soldiers and their Roman General Mars, single-handedly, weakened after my transmogrification, and practically drained of Elemental Aura abilities. They were able to comprehend me coming out of it with moderate injury—if you call exposed _skull_ and collapsed _lung_ moderate injury—, as well as how much easier this could be for me if I was in full health.

In their concerned eyes, I appeared gentle and tame, despite having _savagely_ killed Roman soldiers with my abilities, with proof being the wounds that I sustained—the collapsed left lung and puncture wound above it, the visible skull, as well as the scratches on my skin from failed sword stabs and pathetic arrow piercings. They knew me well enough to accept this fact of me. They still saw me, despite the ten-and-a-half years of my banishment, as the person that they remembered…only different in appearance, equipment, experience, personality…

…Actually, no. I was vastly different than they recalled of me.

They knew that I would change because of my banishment, but they wouldn't care and would learn to accept it, so long as it was beneficial and not detrimental. To begin in accepting me again, they began to speak to me, making sure that I was still me, despite the incredible metamorphosis that I underwent.

"Eduardo?" Costas talked first, in a curious and feeble tone of voice. "Are you still in there?"

"If you are," Ian talked after his brother. "Can you say something to let us know?"

"…" I stayed stagnantly motionless for an abnormally long amount of time. The colors within my field of vision continued to blend together, darkening around the edges of my eyes before spreading to the center.

Almost automatically, my mouth opened. Afterwards, my ash-black eyes rolled backed, my thick eyelids closed, and I fell onto the floor like a tree with its trunk chopped off, absolutely exhausted and unable to retain consciousness any longer. A puff of dust flew upward where I landed, and I continued to hemorrhage onto the sand, which burned away into a crater by my being. Thankfully, my acidic blood was still able to coagulate properly, and my cranial wound was sealing, leaving a moderately-large scab that concealed part of my exposed skull.

"Eduardo?" Costas spoke without need.

"…Zzz…" I began to snore, my body craving a much-required rest.

"Well, that's enough of an answer for me," Costas smiled to himself.

Ian just rolled his eyes. "(Why couldn't _you_ change over the decade as well?)"

Before they pondered how to move me into the laboratory—since I weighed over 1,000 lbs and would be too much for them to carry and a pain in the ass to drag—, the villagers began to expose themselves from their seclusion.

As strange as it may seem, they actually _approached_ me, despite my ferocity earlier against all of the Roman soldiers, knowing how I've directed that nature in preventing good people, denizens that I've protected in the past, from getting hurt.

Sure, I let half of the residents die, and the majority that remained sustained injury. Then again, the worst injury received by a surviving individual was a deep laceration across the arm and a couple of puncture wounds from arrows across the legs. But were not all perfect, and I am _only one_ person.

They appeared to see me, not as a monster hell-bent on bloodlust and malice—not _normally_ anyway—, but as a warrior that is employed to the village as its protector, someone who selflessly risks their lives to protect the people that they love. It took these people a decade to realize this decisive fact about me. And because of this, those whose constitutions didn't hinder them enough were willing to help Costas and Ian to the best of their ability.

Setting aside his astonishment and disbelief, Ian said "I'll get the gurney," and proceeded into the laboratory to retrieve one.

"I hope there's one large and strong enough for him." Costas mumbled, and then looked at the villagers. "I mean, just _look_ at him! He could take up the kitchen with his massive volume!"

Most, if not all of the villagers agreed with Costas, for they saw me to be as equal—if not, _greater_—in size as an African elephant.

"…Zzz…" I continued to snore, missing out on the attention that I was receiving by the villagers that formerly saw me as an earthbound demon.

* * *

><p>"Sickness and healing are in every heart. Death and deliverance are in every hand." —Orson Scott Card ("<em><span>Speaker for the Dead<span>_")

* * *

><p>I think I nailed it with this quote from Card's second <em>Ender<em> book. It properly describes Eduardo.

Before I leave it here, I should point this out.

If you go on my profile page, you'll notice my picture changed. Instead of a hyper-realistic Lucario, it's now a pure white dragon. I mention this because that dragon is _exactly_ what I'm describing for this chapter, as well as the one back in "Chapter I (1)", only THAT dragon was described as black dragon with a white underbelly (and ash-black eyes similar to Eduardo's), while the one that Eduardo transmogrified into is pure white in terms of scaly skin.

I'm sure you can find this picture on Google, as well as the Lucario one that I had earlier. If you do though (not very likely, as far as I know), keep the mouse cursor nearby the SafeSearch icon. I HATE it when people go overboard with stuff like that, ruining characters I love with pornographic obscenity.

I can always try to look for them myself. And if I do, I'll isolate the link and post it on my profile page, all of the pictures that I've used. This should be helpful for future readers who don't know what I'm talking about in terms of my profile picture.

...Another trip down the landmine that is Google Images.

...

Anyway, when I change pictures again, I'll keep them connected to my story in some way. It'll be painless for me, especially since a couple of my ideas derived from the pictures that I found through Google, and not the FILTHY ones, thank god.

Finally, my next chapter returns to the cliffhanger that I left in "Chapter VII (7)". A clash between both Xeno Lucario and Giovanni will occur. And in the end, something else will occur.

Something unexpected.


	15. Chapter IX (9)

Oh, I feel so proud of myself right now... I've officially managed to surpassed 2,000 hits to my story! As it stands, it's at 2,080! I'm so glad to see that this story of mine is receiving the attention that I feel it deserves.

And it'll keep getting uphill from here.

Also, I turned 19 years old during my time off here. My birthday was on May 2nd.

May 2nd, 1993... I've mentioned that date before.

Anyway, within this chapter, I've had FOUR songs put into it. One is a very solid _Kingdom Hearts_ battle theme, another is a background theme to a location in _Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver_, and the other two are from _Halo_. One of those two just makes you feel ready for battle, while the other one makes you ready to low into a tissue. And as always, my profile is updated with such information.

Within this chapter, I resume the cliffhanger that I left back in "Chapter VII (7)", where Xeno Lucario chose to stay behind in Team Rocket Main Headquarters in order to allow his colleagues to escape, leaving the Aura Pokemon to a one-on-one martial confrontation with Giovanni.

This should be good!

And not _just_ that either. There's also something else.

Something..._unexpected_.

...Or faintly expected if you recall the last three paragraphs around the end of "Parallel Prologue (Part III (3))".

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter IX (9): Night before Day<strong>

Location: Team Rocket Main Headquarters (Floor B1): Vehicle Room

Date: October 16th, 2011

Time: 5:00 AM

_The Corrupted/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack - CD5 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Giovanni and Lucario, with their battle stances pre-set, and Lucario, with his Aura Vision ability pre-activated, charged towards each other with a flurry of attacks. They constantly threw kicks, punches, and sweeps against each other, never missing a beat in their momentum, albeit never scoring _direct_ hits on each other either. The most that each of them did to each other at the moment was inflict minimal damage from the strike of a _blocked_ attack.

"You're a little plagiarist, Xeno!" Giovanni spoke through a microphone inside of his helmet, so that his voice wasn't stifled by the crystalline-titanium alloy of his battle armor. He threw a few jabs towards Lucario, whom merely avoided them by swerving his upper body around them. "You named your little organization Team _liberator_?_ W_here do you get the _gall_ to use that name under _my_ roof?"

"_If I'm a plagiarist…_" Lucario swatted off Giovanni's jabs with little problem and evaded others when necessary, "_…then you're a hypocrite! Your lust for power is so great that you resorted to replicating _my_ aura powers, as well as _Mewtwo's_ psychic powers, for your battle armor and benefit! Those are three factors that you plagiarized from us!_"

Giovanni, after hearing Lucario speak of highly confidential information, shoved both arms forward at the Aura Pokémon's torso—well aware of where to strike and _not_ to strike. Lucario, seeing this coming with ease, simply elevated his guard and raised both arms to protect himself from Giovanni's gauntlets. The end result simply caused Lucario to slide back about ten feet with the soles of his padded feet.

Giovanni seemed mildly surprised at Lucario's sudden knowledge of his battle armor. "How do you know that?" He questioned the Aura Pokémon.

Lucario's arms dropped down and he reformed his battle stance. "_You'd _like_ to know, wouldn't you?_" Lucario spoke smugly, but without an alteration in his facial expression.

Giovanni, upon hearing how Lucario understands how his battle armor works, becomes a bit more reckless with his combat. Giovanni started punching more, and to Lucario's benefit, a bit more predictably—however, his Aura Vision already made Giovanni decipherable _enough_ to him.

At the proper time, _predicting_ Giovanni's next few punches, Xeno actually catches _both_ of Giovanni's fists within his paws. Gripping tightly onto Giovanni's fists, he prevented Giovanni from wriggling free.

"You bastard!" Giovanni shouted. "I won't allow you to—"

Lucario immediately jumped, never releasing Giovanni's fists, and delivered a double mule kick onto Giovanni's armor-plated midsection, which transcended greatly onto his bruised abdomen. He released Giovanni's fists just prior to the attack and Giovanni reels back from the impact. Lucario lands back on his two feet after back-flipping off of the impact zone. Giovanni was verbally silenced by the twin kicks to the stomach, and began coughing mildly within his helmet, apparently shocked at how Lucario delivered enough force to pierce his own battle armor and strike at his earlier injuries. The sound of his coughing was easily audible to Lucario's sensitive ears, because of the microphone within Giovanni's visor.

Lucario continues by clasping his paws together and charging a moderate amount of his aura into them. Utilizing HAMMER ARM, he leaps into the air and holds his clasped paws above his head. Giovanni stops coughing long enough to see this attack made above his head and backtracks away, half a second before Lucario lands and brings his paws down, cracking the steel-hard floor with his paws.

"(That could've been catastrophic if it had hit me in the head…)" Giovanni thought with mild concern.

Lucario unclasped his paws and raised himself upright after using HAMMER ARM. He cracked his knuckles after the recoil trauma that they've partially endured, and had this to say.

"_It's apparent that solitary hand-to-hand combat isn't going to help me defeat you, Giovanni,_" Lucario said. "_I should just finish you off quickly with _all_ of my power._"

Giovanni, unbeknownst to Lucario, smiled underneath his helmet. "My thoughts exactly, so I'll do the same."

Lucario smirked faintly, which Giovanni didn't notice in the least. He had Giovanni in his paws. Now all Lucario had to do was cripple him.

Giovanni, using the replicated telekinetic abilities that Mewtwo possesses, instantly cloaks Lucario in a blue psychic field. Lucario, shackled in physical movement, was soon hovering about ten feet in the air, by Giovanni's PSYCHIC technique. The Aura Pokémon made no intent to free himself from Giovanni's replicated telekinetic abilities, or even _struggle_. Giovanni automatically figured that Lucario was subdued under his control.

"(How cocky,)" Lucario thought to himself, sensing large amounts of self-confidence clouding Giovanni's judgment.

"A sudden thought just emerged from my head. Would you like to hear it?" Giovanni said.

"_Go on,_" Lucario replied nonchalantly. "_I'm not going anywhere. I'm all ears._"

"You and Mewtwo never clashed against each other, but only once as a team. Because this suit replicates both its and your quintessence, it's almost as though you're fighting Mewtwo."

"(Not quite,)" Lucario thought, sensing only a fragment of Mewtwo's overall attributes replicated into Giovanni's battle tech.

The mechanisms in Giovanni's right shoulder began to expand metallically and form the triple-barreled weapon that was present earlier, when Giovanni failed to shoot the cargo helicopter down with a missed missile.

"Forget about _that_ old friend of yours, Xeno. I'd like to introduce you to this new one, the Triple Threat."

"_Naming your possessions again, Giovanni? How queer,_" Lucario said with a dulled tone of voice.

"The missile that I fired at you—"

"_And missed _pitifully…"

Giovanni continued, hiding his spite. "—the missile was just one of three modes of this Triple Threat weapon, called Missile Mode." His weapon switched barrels by rotating clockwise—or counterclockwise as it appeared from Lucario's perspective—and exposed a strip of bullets connected to each other through a fed belt magazine. "This would be the second mode of my Triple Threat weapon: Gatling Mode. And now I'm going to _pelt_ you with lead. Just try to defend against this!"

On his mark, Giovanni fired dozens of bullets within every _second_ at Lucario. Lucario, sensing the instant that Giovanni decided to fire, conjured a protective bulwark of psychic energy—PROTECT—and repelled all of the bullets fired at him. They scattered all across the Vehicle Room, ricocheting across the floor and the scrap metal that was once functioning transportation vehicles, but were now rusting heaps of scrap metal.

Giovanni eventually ran out of bullets, as well as confidence, and was suddenly overpowered by _Lucario's_ PSYCHIC technique, which caused them both to switch places and heights.

"What in the world?" Giovanni was stunned by how Lucario overpowered his replicated telekinetic abilities.

Since Lucario is now free of possible counterattack, he decides to use an attack that he rarely utilizes, because of common prevention. He begins to focus his aura heavily on his left paw and begins to generate an _enormous_ amount of glowing white energy on it. The energy seems to swirl around him before collecting on his left paw, and across his battle armor's left gauntlet.

"(Is that…FOCUS PUNCH?)" Giovanni thinks as he watched Lucario focus on his attack. He realizes that Lucario is in fact _using_ FOCUS PUNCH and decides to break his focus, knowing well enough that one hit from that attack can prove dangerous.

He decides to do something about it, with his extended Triple Threat weapon.

With the powerful servos and hydraulics that his armor has on the barrel of the weapon, he turns it clockwise once more, to Flamethrower Mode. He fires a concentrated stream of fire, but he is turned _himself_ clockwise, so that the fire would miss and hit nothing of importance.

Lucario, seeing the fire stream shoot at a safe distance from his right side, wasn't allowing Giovanni to ruin his focus. The fire that Giovanni is shooting stops as sudden as it fired, because of inefficiency. Simultaneously, Lucario's left paw stops collecting radiant white energy and begins to shines brightly and hum somewhat.

With his free right paw, he holds it up and points it at Giovanni. With his fingers, he says "Come here" in body language. With his telekinetic abilities, he has Giovanni come towards him at high speed. Lucario reels his left paw back, forms it into a fist, and slams it into Giovanni's stomach, once he is forcibly right in front of him. The energy of Lucario's FOCUS PUNCH manages to _crack_ Giovanni's armor plating, and transcends over to Giovanni's pre-bruised abdomen. The sound wave that the punch creates rattles across the entire Vehicle Room, resonating across the scrap metal and echoing from the walls.

Giovanni's body was bent forward from Lucario's punch. His helmet immediately unfolds and retracts, exposing a ghastly look of pain. The pain to his abdomen was enough to cause Giovanni to vomit out blood, directly behind Lucario's back—who should be lucky that the fur on his back was _just_ far enough away.

Lucario hears the splashing of Giovanni's sanguine heave and feels some of it splashing onto the fur on his ankles. "_How sickening,_" Lucario says dryly before throwing him forward, with his left paw that had already punched him in the gut.

Giovanni staggers back and hunches over himself, clutching his cracked armor plate and his heavily-bruised abdomen, failing at showing obvious pain on his face. Blood can be seen running down from his mouth, signs of significant internal injury. "(You _cracked_ the armor,)" Giovanni thought, temporarily paralyzed of speech, "(What power you possess to do so!)"

Lucario revolves his left wrist after sustaining moderate recoil damage from his attack on Giovanni. The pain was decent, but bearable, and Lucario conjures an AURA SPHERE soon afterwards.

Giovanni gets on his knees, having had salt dumped over his wounds—metaphorically speaking. His head is facing downward and his reddened teeth were clenched at the pain he had endured. He suddenly hears an odd sound above his head, a sound that can best be compared to the warping of the wind of a tornado.

Giovanni looks up, face to face with Lucario's AURA SPHERE, which was ominously held within inches to his face. He was able to catch a vague glimpse of Lucario's facial countenance through the sable visor. He could see Lucario's eyes gleam gold, and how they were opened wide and looking down at him. He knew that Lucario was using his Aura Vision ability. He could tell this by looking at Lucario's dreadlock-like appendages.

What he now knows is that Lucario has the intent of performing homicide—_merciless_ homicide—on him. Lucario's uncanny silence just made this a bit more unnerving for Giovanni.

Lucario, deciding to end him already, raises the AURA SPHERE above his head and prepares to thrust it down on Giovanni's face. Giovanni, seeing this, generates an AURA SPHERE of his _own_ after freeing his right hand from its previous position.

Both AURA SPHEREs collided with each other, Lucario dropping his down on Giovanni in an attempt to end him, and Giovanni raising his to defend against Lucario. They both push on at their respective swirling typhoons of aura energy, neither combatant wanting to be underpowered by the other.

Giovanni manages to get up slowly, never thinking at how Lucario might just be allowing him to live for moments longer, and never letting his left hand go from his stomach. Both of their attacks sparked electricity from their swirling energy creating friction amongst each other.

"_How disappointing,_" Lucario said. "_You're AURA SPHERE appears equal to my own, because it _is_ my own._"

"…" Giovanni thinks on how to break the stalemate. He figures that by using both hands on his AURA SPHERE, he could overpower Lucario's AURA SPHERE. He releases his grip on his stomach and does just that, managing to double the size of his AURA SPHERE compared to Lucario's.

Lucario, instead of mimicking Giovanni with greater power, decides to quickly break the stalemate by using FORCE PALM with his free right paw on Giovanni. He thrusts his paw on Giovanni's stomach _once more_ releasing a concentrated blast of aura that pushes them both back about ten feet, and breaks their AURA SPHERE stalemate.

Giovanni feels a sharp sting of pain on his abdomen once more, and for a moment believes that one of his internal organs has ruptured.

Since they were both still holding an AURA SPHERE—Giovanni's being twice as large—they decided to throw them at each other. Both fired their respective AURA SPHEREs at the same time, and they both collided directly between the gaps of distance between them.

Despite the size difference between both AURA SPHEREs, Lucario's actually overpowers Giovanni's and pushes forward, closer to Giovanni. They both eventually detonated from a lack of a stable power source, when the distance between them and Giovanni was halved.

Giovanni shielded his eyes from the dust that the detonation lifted upward. He began to grow nervous at how _quickly_ these events were turning against him.

"(My battle armor… It can't possibly be this naïve, can it?)" He thought, gradually growing more anxious and erratic in mind and body. "(Are the replicated abilities that I have at my disposal clearly inferior to the original? That shouldn't be! And yet they are…!)"

Lucario stood stagnant, awaiting Giovanni's next move while simultaneously sensing growing irregularity in him. "_Are you _still_ worth killing, Giovanni?_" Lucario said sincerely.

Giovanni eyed Lucario closely, as if he were the prey of a Houndoom.

"Xeno… You're still full of energy and _deliberately_ stalling so that you can watch me fall apart before you!"

"_More or less,_" Lucario said vaguely, his shrouded eyes temporarily halving and his shoulder shrugging as he said this. "_I find it somewhat satisfying to see you fall apart._"

Giovanni began to pry open a compartment from the top of his left gauntlet. "Well, it won't work! I'll kill you for rebelling against me, and then I'll hunt down your traitorous friends!"

A thin layer of metal flew off once Giovanni pried it, exposing six Poké Balls that were technologically minimized. He used the telekinetic abilities that he artificially had to cause them to detach from his gauntlet and hover in the air a few feet in front of him, where he enlarged them afterwards by mentally pressing their buttons in.

"I'll wear you down to dust with my strongest Pokémon, and then I'll scatter your body across the mountain range!"

Lucario formed his battle stance and waited patiently for Giovanni to put his next move into effect.

_(Song Ends)_

Giovanni had all six of his Poké Balls opened with PSYCHIC and all six of his Pokémon flew outward in a concentrated red light and with the sound of a party popper. The red light of all six of his Pokémon dematerialized, exposing his party to Lucario.

_Unyielding/Halo 2 Volume 2/OST_

_(Song Begins)_

Giovanni's six Pokémon of choice: Golem (Ground-Type and Rock-Type), Nidoking (Ground-Type and Poison-Type), Nidoqueen (Ground-Type and Poison-Type), Persian (Normal-Type), Rhyperior (Ground-Type and Rock-Type), and Steelix (Ground-Type and Steel-Type). All six of them eyed Lucario and scowled at their target opponent, the Steelix in particular showing the most enthusiasm.

Giovanni, with an unsteady and weakened hand, did his trademark snap of his fingers, and all six Pokémon commenced their attacks. Giovanni's Golem and Persian remain above the ground. The Golem tucked itself into a ball and used ROLLOUT towards Lucario, while the Persian simultaneously used QUICK ATTACK towards the same initial target. The remaining four Pokémon burrowed underground utilizing DIG—somehow fitting in the floor that divided the Vehicle Room from Floor B1.

Giovanni's Persian, being the fastest Pokémon in his party, ran twice as fast as Golem could roll and caught up to Lucario in half the time. The feline-like Pokémon pounced at Lucario, claws erect and razor sharp. Lucario predictably saw this coming and counterattacked by clasping Persian's in the neck with his large paw. Grasping its trachea stopped Persian immediately and before it could retaliate with the lashing of its claws, Lucario slammed its head onto the floor in front of his feet, stunning it instantly. He let go of it, and Persian plopped onto its back, temporarily unconscious.

The Golem was unable to see what occurred to Persian and continued with its ROLLOUT towards Lucario. Once again, Lucario subdued the Pokémon once it was within reach. He placed both of his paws out in front, and caught Golem. Golem's momentum didn't so much as budge or stagger him an inch, and it stopped as suddenly—if not, _more_—than Persian did.

Before Golem could uncurl its body to retaliate, Lucario pumped himself up by using BULK UP. His muscle mass, mostly around his arms and torso, temporarily grew in size beneath his battle armor, allowing the Aura Pokémon to hoist the Megaton Pokémon effortlessly _above_ his head. The Golem, with its back gripped tightly by Lucario, wriggled somewhat to escape, but was unable to due to its physical rigidity.

The immobilized Persian woke up from its temporary "sleep" and saw a "boulder" thrown into the air. Golem's landing place would be directly above Persian. It was too dazed to evade and only watched in horror before disappearing below Golem's massive body. The shock of the fall knocked out the Megaton Pokémon.

Lucario rolled Golem aside by pushing it with his foot. The exposed Persian was embedded belly-up into a crater that was conveniently molded to fit its body. Its four legs were curled into its body, and it had a stupid open-mouth grin on its face. This becomes rather discomforting when its dazed eyes are added to its countenance.

With the other four Pokémon still underneath the floor, Lucario quickly used FOCUS ENERGY, channeling enormous amounts of aura onto its arms. With the extra muscles and energy surrounding his arms, he lifted them up and with a battle cry, slammed them onto the floor. The EARTHQUAKE that resulted from this resonated all across the floor and on the walls, crumbling the surface of the floor.

Lucario scanned the floor with his Aura Vision ability and sensed three stationary targets. They are three Pokémon that fainted after the tremor rattled them. He lifts one finger in the air, using EARTH POWER to unearth the three stationary targets. Three pillars of building foundation shot upward and catapulted the three Pokémon into the air, where they fell back onto the ground with a bounce. The three Pokémon were Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Rhyperior, all with confounded and empty looks in their faces.

The only Pokémon that remained is Steelix: the most _resilient_ Pokémon in Giovanni's remaining party. Lucario clearly senses its presence—which is saying something when compared to his _last_ encounter with it—and merely crossed his arms this time, well aware of what it would do, and how he'd retaliate at the Pokémon that removed his freedom.

"(Come at me, then,)" Lucario thought. "(I'll punish you for helping Giovanni in capturing me.)"

The Steelix rises from the ground seconds later and in a different manner than before. Instead of exposing its massive diamond-shattering tail first, Giovanni's Steelix exposed its massive _jaws_, both halves of which were beside Lucario's sides. Lucario paid no extra attention to this and disappeared _within_ those jaws when they closed.

Giovanni could've sworn he saw Lucario _smile_ before Steelix swallowed him whole.

The Steelix, once it swallowed its catch, emerged completely from the floor and curled its massive body up into a spiral. It attempted to stagnate itself and fall asleep, as all snakes—snake-like _Pokémon_—do in order to properly digest their meals. However, once it made itself comfortable, it suddenly began violently uncomfortable and shattered its stagnancy by thrashing amongst itself, roaring loudly, as if it were in _extreme internal discomfort_.

Giovanni looked on in astonishment, well aware that Lucario was doing this, despite currently residing in the _belly_ of the Iron Snake Pokémon.

"I've created a monster…" Giovanni muttered, watching Steelix thrash about from Lucario's actions within the belly of the Iron Snake Pokémon.

His Steelix, from the core of its stomach began to glow an abnormal radiant red. This was clearly the work of Lucario, his OVERHEAT technique in particular. Lucario was _roasting_ Steelix from the inside, taking this important fact into account: the internal structure of a Steelix is both fleshy and soft, and under proper circumstances, _highly_ exploitable.

The Iron Snake Pokémon, as its body heated internally, began to _expand_ from the rapid movement of molecules that made up its body. Steelix suddenly _stopped_ thrashing about and the heat and expansion of its body stretched it out completely.

Barely alive and inactive, Steelix suddenly expels fire from its face. Its eyes rolled back, _popped_ and roasted away under the intense heat and shot out a thick, concentrated stream of fire. Its nostrils and mouth did so as well, and eventually its body segments—the "joints" connecting its entire body together—burst forth fire.

The inevitable occurs soon after, moments before its entire body conflagrated. Its entire body fragmented across the Vehicle Room, once OVERHEAT caused it to detonate. Evaporated blood and molten "metal" dispersed randomly, forcing Giovanni to quickly shield his face with his arms, since his head was clearly vulnerable.

When the event subsided, Giovanni saw a sight that, despite expecting, still managed to leave him momentarily stunned.

Lucario was _completely_ unharmed by Steelix swallowing him earlier. The only difference he had after entering the belly of the Iron Snake Pokémon was frizzy fur. The cause of this was Lucario having been soused profusely by Steelix's saliva and powerful stomach acid—which didn't seem to have any adverse effects on him due to his brevity within the dissolving substance—, and then dried by the effects of OVERHEAT.

He tends to his fur by temporarily dropping on all four paws, shaking his body so that his fur straightens, and then returning to his bipedal nature and brushing his fur with his paw.

"_If you're going to have _your_ Pokémon do that to me,_" He inhaled deeply with his elongated snout, resisting the urge to gag from the strong scent of stomach acid that still clung heavily onto his battle armor and fur. "_Make sure that I'm properly immobilized so that I don't fight back._"

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><em><span>15.1: Giovanni's Trump Card<span>_

Time: 5:17 AM (Dawn)

Giovanni's battle armor begins to moisten from his cold sweat. "I never thought that I would place myself in jeopardy from training you, and yet I find myself in this position." Giovanni looked at Lucario, with an uncanny blend of admiration and apprehension. "I find myself unable to subdue a Pokémon subordinate that I elevated to terrifying new heights in power, and I'm now the target of that said Pokémon."

"_Your Pokémon were never a match for me,_" Lucario added. "_They are just as overwhelmed as you are now._"

"Xeno… What have you become? No, strike that. What have I done to deserve this from you?"

Lucario had a lot of answers that would suffice Giovanni's question. He could say that Giovanni is in this mess for originally _capturing_ him and Wanderer, forcing them both to work under Team Rocket—under _him_—against their will. He could say that Giovanni had his Grunts willingly murder Sceptile and Tiny, the two Pokémon that he and Wanderer miss deeply. He could say that Giovanni, alongside the organization of Team Rocket, uses Pokémon more or less as tools for criminal and economical purposes, disposing of them when they don't suffice these two criteria. He could also say that Giovanni was oblivious to the emotional reactions of Pokémon that were enslaved and, if said Pokémon were ever unshackled from Team Rocket's clutches, would unleash all of their power mercilessly on their "masters".

However, Lucario only had this to say to Giovanni's question.

"_I'll only bore you with the details of what you are that I utterly despise. Perhaps you can figure it out for yourself in the afterlife._"

Giovanni chuckled after hearing this, almost completely recovering from his uneasiness earlier. He discreetly sneaks his right hand close to his left gauntlet and keeps a finger raised above a suspicious-looking button that elevated itself onto the surface.

"I'll have to decline that offer, for I don't intend to die anytime soon," he said with a smile as he pressed the button.

In an instant, the nasal cavities of Lucario's snout stung worse than the poison of a dozen angry Beedrill. Lucario is startled by a sudden jet of mist sprayed _nasally_ by the _battle armor's helmet_ that he wore. He removes the helmet in an instant, seeing how the tip of the snout of the helmet seethed a pale white mist. He blew air out of his snout forcefully, saying "_What did you just do?_" in a confused and irritated tone of voice.

"I gave you a nasal injection of Pokérus," Giovanni said, removing his right hand from the top of his left gauntlet. "I'm sure you're well aware of the beneficial properties of Pokérus. However, those benefits were _completely_ eliminated with this genetically-_modified_ strand of the virus."

Lucario was suddenly short of breath and hyperventilating to supply his body with oxygen. His eyes disintegrated their Aura Vision ability and became bloodshot and wide when the oxygen that he needed further and further escaped from his body's grasp.

"It blocks off the ability of the lungs to siphon oxygen from the air. Breathe all you want, Xeno. It's pointless."

"_You unbelievable bastard…_" Lucario clearly said as his legs wobbled. His mouth began to foam from stress, and dribbled somewhat when it overflowed. "_You had this implanted onto my battle armor, _knowing_ that I would take it with my plan to escape._"

"I dislike losing, Xeno," Giovanni said. "I dislike losing battles, priceless resources, and most importantly, my _life_. If I have to kill you to survive, I'll kill you. If I had known that Mewtwo would try to kill me by destroying my Pokémon Gym and burying me within the rubble, I would've taken the same precautions as I'm doing so now, against you."

Lucario stopped breathing altogether, once he felt his _heart_ stop beating, and collapsed onto the floor. The battle armor made a sharp metallic sound when he hit the floor, and the foam excreted by his mouth spilled somewhat in the process.

"I prefer winning, and not _always_ because it's fun," Giovanni steps towards Lucario, uncaring if he was still listening or not. "I'd rather win than lose because the winner often loses less than the loser. I'll lose you, cash Miltank, but I'll keep my life, and find another source of profit in the near future. It's nothing personal, Xeno Lucario. Time is money, and this is business."

Giovanni stops walking forward when he is within kicking distance of Lucario and looks at the fallen Aura Pokémon. His helmet is reapplied onto his face and his Triple Threat weapon rotates clockwise, setting itself up onto Missile Mode once more. He aligns the trajectory of the missile so that it was aimed downward and _directly_ towards the dribbling Aura Pokémon. And with a mild smirk of satisfaction, he fires only one missile pointblank at Lucario, instantly blinding his visor under a thick coating of dust and gravel that the explosion kicked up.

"(How odd… There should be mutilated appendages and flesh alongside this debris,)" Giovanni thought, ignoring the dust and debris that he disturbed. "(…Damn Steel-Type Pokémon and their resilient hides.)"

The dust eventually cleared, and Giovanni's weapon reloaded another missile, prepared to fire once more. However, to Giovanni's surprise, he saw something that he wasn't expecting, not in the least. He saw something that actually made his eyes widen underneath his visor, jump back and reacquire his apprehension.

He saw a PROTECT-ive barrier.

The barrier dissipated and Lucario's paws curled into fists. He rooted them onto the floor and slowly got back up onto his feet. He blinked a few times and wiped off the saliva that hung from his mouth. He used PSYCHIC to have his helmet return to him, where he forcefully tore off the internal apparatus that nasally injected him with a genetically-modified strand of the Pokérus virus. The helmet hovered back onto his head and fixed itself comfortably in place afterwards, and then he no longer used his telekinetic abilities.

He could clearly tell, through Giovanni's reaction, that he was absolutely terrified at him. His Aura Vision ability would prove immaterial presently, because he truly felt that it was unneeded at present.

"What kind of _demon_ are you to _survive_ that fatal dose?" Giovanni spoke to the Aura Pokémon, one that he has lost recognition of.

"…" Lucario, despite his solid countenance, was actually just as surprised as he is. However, he didn't show it through hyperbolic body language. He merely looked at his paws, flexing them momentarily, somewhat unsure as to what kind of phenomenon occurred just now.

"How are you still alive? I demand an answer!" Giovanni's voice spiked and rattled across the Vehicle Room in an echo.

Lucario was still discombobulated at his body, at how his heart resumed beating on its own and how he was able to get back up on his feet, as if he was never injected with malignant Pokérus to begin with.

He snapped out of his self-inflicted trance and told Giovanni the first explanation that entered his mind.

"_Because… The aura is with me?_"

All of a sudden, Giovanni sprang forth at him in a reckless rush, fueled of primal rage and mental vacuity. "That's not _good_ enough for me!"

Lucario saw this coming at him as if Giovanni were a mile away. He simply reached out his left paw when Giovanni was close enough, and grabbed him tightly by the neck. With his free right paw, Lucario charges a frigid blue energy and approaches his right paw to Giovanni's armored face. All he does with the paw is flick his finger at Giovanni's visor, before thrusting his left paw forward, letting go of his neck, and shoving Giovanni away from him.

Giovanni seemed more discombobulated than before. He quickly grew enraged at the downgrading flick on the forehead and extended one hand at Lucario, attempting to generate an AURA SPHERE. However, the AURA SPHERE never came, and Giovanni suddenly found himself rendered immobile. Alongside this, he felt rather cold and trembled mildly.

He found himself spontaneously _frozen_ stiff, his armor turned into one massive ice sculpture.

What Lucario did earlier was the cause of this. Lucario used SHEER COLD to flash-freeze Giovanni in his place.

"_Now it's _my_ turn to 'demand an answer',_" Lucario said to Giovanni, mimicking Giovanni's tone of voice earlier.

"…" Giovanni only chattered and attempted to speak stifled expletives under his helmet. He and his battle armor were rendered stagnant under the sub-zero temperatures of the ice. His electrical and technological systems, which gave his battle armor all of its power, were rendered useless when the flow of energy from its power sources were halted outright.

"_What is to be gained or lost through a _draw_?_" Lucario said. "_Whatever the answer is to this question, it serves you more of a purpose, Giovanni, because you think of what is to be gained or lost through a win or a loss._"

Giovanni still attempted to break himself free from the ice shackles that Lucario put on him, but with zero progress.

Lucario approached the frozen statue that is Giovanni, sensing and knowing that there's no further danger from him. His head was positioned somewhat close to Giovanni's visor, as if he wanted the Team Rocket Boss to look at him straight into his crimson eyes and know true fear.

"_I will say this to you though: you lost your Pokémon, but still _live_ with this draw. However, this is only temporarily because I still hunger for your death, like an Ursaring craving Magikarp that are swimming upstream. I just won't kill you today because you're not _worth it_ yet, especially after you pulled off such a cheap trick as injecting me nasally with detrimental Pokérus."_

Lucario turned his back on Giovanni and looked at the cargo hatch door, the exit to Team Rocket Main Headquarters. He could see that the break of dawn was rising over the mountain range, bathing them both in today's sunlight. His eyes were locked onto the Sun, the visor he had on protected him against the harmful ultraviolet rays.

_"Perhaps until your primal combat skills improve, I'll kill you then, unless my SHEER COLD technique does so for me, and saves me the trouble of doing so in the future._" He concluded, without looking back at Giovanni.

Giovanni, still in a fit, spoke more foul stifled invectives and still attempted to move in order to free himself from this glacial prison, to crush Lucario's skull in within the helmet that he wore.

Unfortunately for Giovanni, Lucario had already disappeared from his view, within seconds of leaving the cargo hatch door, never to return again.

* * *

><p><span>Time: 7:28 AM (Morning)<span>

An awakened Team Rocket Grunt, one of the first to come back from his senses after yesterday's plan from Team Liberator, lethargically proceeded towards the Vehicle Room. He has his hand on his bloody shoulder—the area where Luxray's fangs punctured his flesh—, and entered the Vehicle Room, still bleeding somewhat from the puncture wound.

"Holy crap…!" The Grunt said after seeing the absolute destruction that the vehicles in the Vehicle Room were in. "What the hell happened here?"

The Grunt vigilantly stepped forward across the Vehicle Room, each vehicle he was passing by more gnarled than the last. He scans further ahead and sees a frozen bipedal figure, clad in Team Rocket battle armor tech. He instantly recognizes the battle armor, and knew that only one person in Team Rocket has the authorization to utilize it.

"…Giovanni!" The Grunt said before hurrying over to him.

He stops to his side and sees the condition that his party of Pokémon was in. He sees five of them unconscious and defeated, and sees repulsively chunky fragments of the sixth. The largest of which was its massive cranium, which was hemorrhaging profusely from its blown eyes, snout, mouth, and neck.

"(What happened to your Steelix?)" The Grunt thought. "(It's in fragments!)"

The Grunt reaches into his utility belt for his Poké Balls, only to find that they're all missing.

"(Where in the world did my Poké Balls go?)" He thought to himself, looking into his front and back pockets for them, finding nothing but wasted time.

The Grunt improvised in how to free Giovanni from his ice prison. He noticed a sharpened fragment of Giovanni's Steelix beside him and picked it up, disregarding the blood on it or the faint traces of heat that it retained.

With this tool in hand, he would chip the ice away. He began with the shoulders, and progressed further around from there.

The Grunts progress was supplemented by the Sun's progress. The ice melted all across Giovanni. And when the layer of ice was thin enough, Giovanni coiled his body and shattered it completely, startling the Grunt in the process.

Giovanni fell to his knees and immediately took off the helmet that concealed his head. He removed the helmet _manually_ since his battle armor's circuits and hydraulics were frozen over, and served only one purpose at the moment: multiplying his body weight by a factor of three. His face was wet with water, iced over in some areas, especially around his combed hair, which now had a similar appearance of an arctic tundra. His face appeared as blue as the skin on a Wailord, especially around his lips, which were open and exposing chattering teeth.

If he had remained frozen for a slightly longer period of time, he would've developed severe hypothermia—and possibly die as Xeno might've wanted.

The Grunt saw him on his knees, shivering from the cold that he endured, and stepped in front of him to check if he was alright. The Grunt noticed a countenance that showed signs of disappointment. And much to his better judgment, he decided to ask about it.

"Sir, you don't look so good, physically _and_ emotionally."

Giovanni's face warmed up enough to allow him to stop chattering his teeth. "Xeno… I couldn't stop it."

"Xeno? Xeno Lucario?" The Grunt made sure. "What about it?"

"He formulated an escape," Giovanni said, looking down at the floor, "and like an absolute _neophyte_, I let him leave successfully. He got away with virtually all of the Pokémon in this building!" He punched the ground in frustration, cracking the ground in the progress, and burying his fist knuckle deep into the floor.

"At least the Grunts on missions right now didn't lose their Pokémon," The Grunt thought to himself. "And we still have Pokémon housed within our other clandestine bases within the Kanto region."

Giovanni was well aware of this, but the setback that his _primary_ headquarters sustained would take _years_ to recover from.

"Help me remove this battle armor," Giovanni snapped his fingers at the Grunt, and held out the hand that did so. "It's beginning to injure me rather than benefit me."

"Yes sir!" The Grunt dutifully grabbed his hand and began to remove the battle armor, segment by segment.

Giovanni vindictively thinks of Xeno and plans his revenge on the rebellious Aura Pokémon. Once he and his HQ recover, he plans on making vast improvements on his battle armor. He already possesses powers similar to those of Mewtwo and Xeno—both of which need fine tuning and hundreds of hours of further testing—, and ponders the possibility of assimilating the abilities of _other_ Pokémon as well.

He looks at his party of defeated Pokémon—especially the Steelix that Lucario scattered across the Vehicle Room—, thinking of using them for his battle armor's future evolution.

"(I'll conquer the world one day, and I'll need the power of every Pokémon that I can get my hands on in order to do so,)" Giovanni thought, aware of the work that is required for his future goals.

* * *

><p><em><span>15.2: Additional Cargo<span>_

Location: Mt. Moon (Summit)

Time: 10:09 AM

_Mt. Moon/Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver Versions Collaborative Gamerip/Junichi Masuda; Game Freak_

_(Song Begins)_

Lucario ventures farther and farther away from Team Rocket Main Headquarters, deliberately choosing to travel far, especially because of the damage that he and his Pokémon allies did to the Vehicle Room. He figured that the Grunts that he had Dusknoir and Luxray knock out should've awakened by now, and that they would be on the alert for him. He had their vehicles scrapped, but _not_ their communication devices. And to keep himself from slacking off, he always assumed that they were still on the hunt for him.

The renegade Aura Pokémon hopped across each mountain that was in front of him, stopping once he reached the summit of one mountain. He paused to observe his surroundings, knowing that he was presently in the mountain range of Mt. Moon.

He looks directly behind him, disregarding the gusts of cool mountain wind that were omni-present. He could see Team Rocket Main Headquarters from here, despite having traveled dozens of miles during this short amount of time. And from this distance, he could still identify the main structure, as well as the infamous red letter "R" that was on the front of it.

Part of Lucario is in disbelief that his escape was now a reality. He looked back forward, seeing the vast rocky scenery—_freedom_—again, with the cloudy layer of fog hiding the bases of the mountains. The scenery, albeit tranquil and cool with its gusts of clean and healthy mountain air, was _not_ what Lucario was attentive to. He thought of his allies and where they were exactly. He ordered them to leave and commence Phase Three of Team Liberator's Plan, whether or not he'd survived his fight with Giovanni.

Since their cargo helicopter was _clearly_ nowhere in sight, he'd have to commence the arduous process of tracking them down. He wouldn't know where to begin, and would most likely travel across the planet, just to find one metal contraption.

It would be like finding a needle in a haystack, as cliché albeit as close to the truth as it seems.

"(If I was a cargo helicopter,)" Lucario thought to himself, "(I'd be over the horizon by now…)"

He sighed deeply and with a bit of a groan, for _two_ reasons actually. The first reason was the tediousness of locating his allies.

The second reason was one that was within his field of perception.

_(Song Ends Abruptly)_

"_I know you two are back there._" Lucario said, not looking back again. "_You both should reveal yourselves before I fire an AURA SPHERE at you out of self-defense._"

From behind a boulder that was the size of a small car, two voices were audible.

"_I told you that our aura would give us away to it,_" A figure with a logical, low-pitch _telepathic_ voice said.

"I don't believe you," A figure with a shrill, bird-like voice said.

The two figures exposed themselves from behind the boulder. Lucario, so as to show respect, turned around to see them. Before his eyes, he saw a Beldum with a Torchic perched on the top of its head.

_**(National Pokédex entry #374: Beldum, the Iron Ball Pokémon. It is a Steel-Type and a Psychic-Type Pokémon that measures approximately 2' 00'' in height and weighs in at an astonishing 209.9 lbs. It converses with others by using magnetic pulses. In a swarm, they move in perfect unison. Unfortunately, no other Beldum is within the area.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #255: Torchic, the Chick Pokémon. It is a Fire-Type Pokémon that measures approximately 1' 04'' in height and a derisory 5.5 lbs. A fire burns inside, so it feels very warm to hug. It launches fireballs of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Makes you wonder what keeps a Torchic from spontaneously **_**combusting itself.**_**)**_

"_Why are you following me?_" Lucario asked, deciding not to waste his time reading their minds.

"We saw you fight against that metal man earlier in the day and—"

"_I know. I was sensing your aura in the middle of that fight._" Lucario clarified.

"_What did I just tell you, Torchic?_" Beldum reminded the Chick Pokémon that was perched on the top of its head.

"(*Sigh*) you're right again, for the umpteenth time," Torchic muttered before resuming its earlier conversation. "Anyway, we saw that fight earlier and thought that we could join you and learn from you."

"(How straightforward,)" Lucario thought of their desire.

"_So, what's your answer?_" Beldum inquired. "_Tweety up here is just itching to know._"

Lucario turned his back on them both and looked over the edge of the summit of the mountain that he stood on top of.

"_No_" was the only word he said before leaping down.

Both Pokémon—Beldum, to be specific—moved over to where Lucario just stood and saw him, down below, leaping forward with great speed over the asymmetrical terrain.

Torchic had this to say, while Lucario was still close by and within earshot.

"Where in the world are you going?" Torchic's sharp voice echoed across the environment.

Lucario was already hundreds of feet ahead of them and said "_Home!_" Lucario's telepathic voice was audible enough for both Pokémon to hear, but only just.

Both Pokémon watched on as Lucario went farther and farther away.

Beldum had this to say.

"_You want me to follow that dark-furred Lucario…right?_" It said submissively.

"Of course! Hop—er, _hover_—to it!" Torchic hopped a couple of time on Beldum's head to motivate it, tapping its toenails on Beldum's metallic surface in the process.

"(Why do I let others order me around?)" Beldum thought depreciatively before hovering forward at a respectable speed, one fast enough to follow Lucario without losing sight of him, or causing the perched Torchic from losing its footing.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Celadon Forest (Outskirts)<span>

Date: October 17th, 2011

Time: 1:52 PM

Lucario had been traveling for over thirty-two hours since he escaped from Team Rocket Main Headquarters solitarily. Despite having crossed a few hundred miles of terrain, he showed minute signs of exhaustion. He stopped occasionally to feed on the Berries that were scattered around when he felt famished, and then proceeded forward.

During those breaks, he would often notice that Beldum and Torchic caught up to him. This was immaterial to him and he would proceed onward to his intended destination.

He stopped in front of Celadon Forest, where trees began to block the horizon. The sunlight and part of the sky glistened through the leaves. Lucario's visor proved enough of a bulwark to protect his blood-red eyes from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Without looking away from the outskirts of Celadon Forest, Lucario had this to say with a stagnant countenance:

"_Your endurance is remarkable, Beldum._"

_**THUD!**_

Lucario, for little necessary reason, decided to turn back to see what was going on. He noticed Beldum had collapsed on the grass floor out of fatigue and Torchic is pecking at the back of its head, in an attempt to refresh it.

"_Did I not make myself clear yesterday? I told you both that you shouldn't follow me._" He said with concern and not anger.

Torchic paused its pecking at the Iron Ball Pokémon and looked up at Lucario. "And why should we. We have a reason to do so."

"_You may have a reason to follow me, but you might not have a _life_ to follow me with, the both of you._"

Torchic was puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"

"_If the both of you are going to continue to follow me, then you're precariously intertwining your young lives with mine,_" Lucario began his explanation. "_In the hands of Team Rocket, I've become a renegade, a Pokémon that has been classified as gone AWOL. I will be hunted ad infinitum by the _'metal man'_ Giovanni."_ Lucario's tone of voice changed when he quoted the Chick Pokémon's line yesterday._ "If you value your life—as well as that of your submissive friend before you—, then you'll comprehend this choice and stay away from me…far, far away._"

"I don't care!" Torchic said automatically and stubbornly.

"(I do…)" Beldum was still able to hear—with whatever derivative ears that it has.

Lucario shook his head in disappointment, feeling as if his time was drained with these two Pokémon. He proceeded within the Celadon Forest, leaving both Beldum and Torchic behind once more.

Torchic, seeing Lucario abandon them _again_, still felt a strong urge to follow him. It noticed that Beldum was still on the floor, fatigued from traveling for over thirty-two hours with little time periods to rest. Torchic wanted to peck at it to motivate it to continue, but all that did for the Chick Pokémon was make its beak sore.

Instead, Torchic got on top of Beldum and walked backwards on it, causing them both to move forward, as if the Iron Ball Pokémon were a wooden log.

"(Why don't I ever have a choice in this?)" Beldum thought as its face rolled over the grass and leaves of the forest floor, feeling rather fortunate that it doesn't have an open mouth on its face, or a tongue, or even taste buds for that matter.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Celadon Forest (Cliffside)<span>

_Never Forget/Halo 3/Martin O'Donnell/Michael Salvatori_

_(Song Begins)_

Lucario stood precariously close to the edge of the Celadon Forest Cliffside, the location where he defeated a malicious Absol _obsessed_ on seeing his species of Pokémon become extinct, almost losing his _own_ life in the process.

He looked down at the Cliffside's edge and only saw thick trees, not the forest floor itself. In looking down, he concentrated on his memory to recall what happened here when he was only two-and-a-half years old, over _fifteen_-and-a-half years ago.

* * *

><p>(Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"You'll never be able to kill me." _He crunched the AURA SPHERE in his paw and had it become a boxing glove. He also forcefully grabbed Absol by the neck with his right paw, not caring anymore about the pain induced by his broken bones in doing so. He only recalled momentarily how similar this final attack was to the day that he and Absol met for the first time._

_"…Ah (*gasp*) …and why is that?" Absol was choking now, and eyeing Lucario dead center in its blood-red eyes with its one remaining eye. It had absolutely no more energy left to try to defend._

"I've already said so," _Lucario brought his left arm back as high as he could, as if wanting to put all that he currently has left in one final attack._ "I have more of a purpose and the willpower to support it than you'll ever have."

_ Knowing this was his final attack that'll decide who's victorious, Lucario brought his fist down upon Absol's face, having a much more directed explosion aimed perfectly at its face and not onto him like before, delivering a stalwart punch that easily _imploded_ Absol's snout and jaw, as well as rendering any form of recognition of this Disaster Pokémon impossible._

_ Absol only heard the sound of a gale storm in its remaining ear before hearing the sound of rushing air. It felt so much pain on its face, as if a boulder was dropped onto it, but it could care less, because now it knew for a fact that it was falling off of the cliff._

_ "(…I'm…finished…)" It thought briefly, accepting its fate before falling to the trees below._

_ Lucario, with the AURA SPHERE spent, stared down at the falling Pokémon. His vision was slowly beginning to distort into blurriness, just as it noticed Absol disappear into the trees below. His sense of hearing faded away as well, preventing him to hear the sound of Absol's impact below._

_Now _he_ was beginning to lose his balance as the unfair hand of unconsciousness began to wrap itself around his neck._

_ "(My species…has been saved…from further anguish…)" His vision was beginning to blend together on its own, slowly merging all available colors into darkness. "(And now…)"_

_ He began to lean towards the cliff's edge against his will; rolling back his eyes and slowly closing them before losing consciousness to the point of not being aware of his current situation._

"…_I'm_…finished…" _Lucario muttered those last words before finally losing his balance and falling off the edge of the cliff._

* * *

><p>(End of Lucario's Flashback)<p>

Lucario knew that a fall from this height is easily fatal to most Pokémon. He recalled falling from a _greater_ height during the fight with Absol. He survived it mainly due to two reasons: he rejuvenated himself due to the Berries that Tiny provisioned for him before the fight and because he used ENDURE to resist the fall's impact.

"_Good riddance, Absol._" He thought before stepping away from the Cliffside and proceeding onward, strongly believing that Absol was no longer alive and on this world.

Torchic and its method of choice for transportation—Beldum—came a few seconds after Lucario left the Celadon Forest Cliffside. Torchic stopped rolling on Beldum within feet from the edge of the cliff and stepped off of the Iron Ball Pokémon. It then walked over and perched itself momentarily to the edge of the cliff, raising itself up onto its toes and leaning over slightly to see what resided below, albeit very carefully so as to not lose its balance.

All it saw below were a bunch of dense trees that cloaked the floor below.

"(What went on in your head, Lucario?)" It thought before looking back and catching a glimpse of Lucario proceeding within the Celadon Forest.

As expected, Torchic was quick on deciding to follow him once more, and utilized Beldum as its method of transportation once more.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Celadon Forest (Tree House - Ground Zero)<span>

At the tree house—or to be more specific, what _little_ there's left of it—, Lucario observes the faded ash remains that was once the home of him, Sceptile, Tiny, and Wanderer. He recalls that this is the location where Team Rocket killed both Sceptile and Tiny, and another flashback ensues.

_(Choir Enters the Song)_

* * *

><p>(Lucario's Flashback)<p>

_ "SELFDESTRUCT!" The Grunts who owned the Koffing shouted._

_ "EXPLOSION!" the Grunts who owned the Weezing shouted._

"...What…?" _Lucario was stunned to hear those two attacks being ordered. He swore he felt his whole physical being sink with dread at the thought of having the Grunts _willingly_ put the lives of their own Pokémon's in jeopardy, just to take out other Pokémon._

_ Within one moment of those words, the Koffing and Weezing didn't hesitate to utilize an attack that would likely eliminate their existence in a heartbeat. They quickly made themselves glow a blinding white light, preparing to explode._

_ Sceptile and Tiny remained stationary, since they knew that they couldn't escape because they were surrounded. They closed their eyes, fatalistically accepting death, hoping that it would be quick and painless._

_ Tiny even went as far as clinging onto Sceptile's left leg, as if it was a farewell hug._

_ However, Lucario wasn't going to accept that _kneeling_ down. Quickly, he got up on his two furry feet and used EXTREMESPEED to sprint towards the targeted Pokémon, planning to retrieve them and free them from a fiery death. Just as quickly as he ran, he exposed his cover to the Team Rocket Grunts in the process with that same gale-making speed._

_ "What in the world?" The very same Grunt that did the double-take earlier to a shrub was the first to notice Lucario, quickly followed by the remainder of the Grunts. He wasn't flabbergasted by the fact that a Lucario was here in a forest—since they're more common, despite being seldom seen by humanity, in cold and tall mountain ranges. He was more discombobulated by the fact as to why the Lucario he saw was charging _towards_ the intended explosion site._

_ "(Almost…there…)" Lucario could feel enough dread and suspense in his heart to the point of seeing the world slow down in front of him, adrenaline surging to his mind and slowing down time before him. He could even _feel_ his own accelerated heartbeat pulsate within his head, since he can't hear it with his ears due to the rush of wind caused by EXTREMESPEED._

_ He made one final leap across the wooden remains of the tree house, paying little attention to the fact that his sense of time slowed down before him at the moment. He landed and made one final dash towards Sceptile and Tiny._

_ Sceptile opened its eyes for a brief moment, noticing Lucario running towards it. Its eyes widened quickly, yet Tiny's eyes remained clamped shut, its being fully cringed for fear of death._

_ "…Lucario…?" Sceptile said at the sight of the Aura Pokémon, here of all places._

"…Scep—"

**BOOM!**

* * *

><p>(End of Lucario's Flashback)<p>

The thought that they perished in the explosion made Lucario mourn over them once more. He couldn't ponder a way in which they survived the explosion caused by the kamikaze Koffing and Weezing. Once his eyes began to water and tears streamed down his furry blue cheeks due to these painful resurfacing emotions, he decided to leave.

Torchic stops at the ash remains that Lucario eyed earlier, faintly hearing the Aura Pokémon sob as he walked away, and wonders what his waterworks were all about, since they were connected to this small wasteland within the Celadon Forest.

"(What connection does this place have with Lucario?)" Beldum thought, seeing the ash with its own eye, albeit turned ninety degrees on one side.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Celadon Forest (Waterfall)<span>

_(Song Mollifies and Resumes Normal Melody)_

At the waterfall, Lucario recalls how he would often meditate here for a good portion of the day, at least a few hours, in order to enhance his innate aura abilities and keep himself stable.

He recalls how Tiny used to play here often, while he meditated. He remembered how Tiny would climb up to the top of the waterfall and dive down into the lake below. He also remembered one time where Sceptile washed his bed sheets for him, because he awakened with a cold sweat from a dream that revealed to him—although he didn't realize it yet—_Giovanni_ coming to Celadon Forest.

Lucario chose not to think further of this because he was still somber over recalling the incident at their tree house over a year ago.

What he chose to do instead is meditate underneath the waterfall, like he did before Team Rocket captured him. He proceeded across the water, by swimming so that he could wash away the grime he collected recently —the stomach acid that dried and clung onto Lucario's battle armor and fur—, and placed himself on the "island" that the waterfall fell on.

He crossed his legs, clasped his paws together, and closed his eyes underneath the visor he wore. The fact that he had his battle armor on him as he meditated didn't concern him, despite the fact that it came from the same people that captured him and utilized him for their collective revenue.

_(Song Ends)_

Beldum—whom recovered from its fatigue and hovered once more—and Torchic—whom stood on top of Beldum's head—watched on as Lucario meditated underneath the waterfall. Torchic hopped off of its hovering perch and scuttled around the pool of water, until he was close enough to Lucario, without getting wet.

Lucario hears a chirping voice over the roar of the waterfall.

"Xeno…Lucario…" Torchic recalled. "That's your full name, right?"

Lucario opened his eyes underneath the visor. Torchic couldn't tell that it was being watched already, since Lucario is as still as a marble effigy.

"That what the metal man—I mean, _Giovanni_—called you, right?"

Lucario decided to speak, so that he didn't give Torchic the speculation that it was being disregarded. "_Correct,_" He said concisely.

"_What kind of a man is this _Giovanni_ that you speak of?_" Beldum spoke, hovering over the water, about five feet away from the Aura Pokémon.

Since Lucario was no longer meditating anymore, he stood up and jumped over to dry land. He used OVERHEAT in low power output in order to have the water clinging onto his midnight blue fur and battle armor evaporate away. Alongside that, he faced both Beldum and Torchic and had plenty on his mind about Giovanni to tell the both of them.

"_Giovanni is the leader of a malevolent organized crime syndicate known as Team Rocket. He only sees two characteristics about Pokémon that help run his organization: money and power. He strives in obtaining the strongest Pokémon possible and _disposes_ of those that he deems feeble and useless._"

"He's that bad?" Torchic said.

"_He's the primary reason why I wanted you both to _stay away_ from me._"

A significant amount of silence passed, enough for Lucario to dry off completely and stop using OVERHEAT. Lucario didn't have to read their minds to know that they were concerned with leaving him. He could read that from their despondent physiognomy.

Because of this, he had this to say.

"_However, if you two desire accompanying me..._"

Lucario could already see their frowns turn upside down. As for Beldum, he could see it took notice and twitched its head somewhat.

"_…it has to be on one condition._" Lucario temporarily raised one finger from his left paw.

"Anything, name your price!" Torchic blurted out immediately.

"(Must you always leap before you look?)" Beldum thought against Torchic's outburst.

"_Alright then,"_ Lucario smiled faintly. "_My one and only condition is that I will train you, unlock your dormant potential and allow you both to defend against future threats._"

Both Pokémon were astonished at Lucario's "condition".

"Really?"

"_You'd do that, for _us_?_"

"_Of course,_" Lucario said. "_After all, I said earlier that 'you're precariously intertwining your young lives with mine'. I might as well strengthen you both to reach a magnitude that I can feel comfortable with._"

Torchic, well-content with Lucario's "condition", looked at the waterfall, up at its highest point and down below at the rock "island". "Do you think I could begin my training by meditating underneath this waterfall, like you did earlier?"

"_No, not yet,_" Lucario warned the Chick Pokémon. "_You might get crushed by the weight of the water. You're still too small and fragile._"

"(Maybe I'll be free of your headstrong and dominant nature if you're crushed…)" Beldum trailed off in thought.

"_Beldum, you do realize that I can hear your thoughts, right?_" Lucario said, eyeing the Iron Ball Pokémon underneath the shroud that is his visor. "_Would you like me to tell it what you just thought?_"

"_Go right on ahead. Torchic knows what I think of it,_" Beldum explained. "_But that's the quintessence of friendship: you have to pinpoint the negativities of your friend and accept them, whether they're fixable or not._"

* * *

><p><em><span>15.3: Back From the Dead<span>_

Location: Celadon Forest (Core)

Time: 2:36 PM

Beldum, Lucario, and Torchic ventured into Celadon Forest's Core, an area which showed the tallest trees out of anywhere else within the current location. To pass the time, Beldum and Torchic conversed with Lucario, mostly of his past.

"_So tell me again as to why you decided to bring your battle armor with you, when you know quite well that it came from the people that will hunt you persistently._"

"_There are great assets and strengths within this battle armor that supplement my own over time._" Lucario responded effectively. "_Giovanni mentioned that its crystalline-titanium alloy has properties that gradually amplify my aura abilities, my psychic abilities…my overall martial potential. Because of this, if Giovanni ever rears his back-combed head at me again, stronger than before, I'll repel his strength back with my own._"

"What do you suppose your friends are doing right now?" Torchic said, perched on top of _Lucario's_ helmet this time.

"_They might be dropping off the first of hundreds of captured Pokémon off at their respective locations. But since I don't know where they are, what do I know?_"

"_Do you think they're here?_" Beldum said.

Lucario stopped walking and Beldum stopped hovering forward upon seeing this. He used his Aura Vision ability underneath his visor—and the Chick Pokémon perched on top of his helmet—and scanned his surroundings. "_No, they're not here. I don't sense their aura at all._"

He stopped using his Aura Vision ability and they proceeded forward across the Core of Celadon Forest. They soon found themselves out of the foliage norm and, to their surprise, surrounded by a natural oddity.

All three Pokémon were surrounded by _fallen_ trees that cluttered an area the size of a small street. All of the trees showed signs of decay, and were falling apart with age.

"_How queer,_" Lucario said. "_This wasn't here before._"

"How long have you been gone from this forest again?" Torchic reminded him.

"_Over a year ago—or 372 days to be precise…_"

Lucario proceeded forward across the uneven terrain, scanning this new phenomenon for all of the information that its worth.

"_A surplus of events could've occurred here during my absence._"

All three Pokémon slowly proceeded across the vastness of this deforestation, clueless as to what exactly happened here. They stopped moving once Lucario identified the ingrained remains of the trees.

Lucario stepped closer to one of the mutilated trees and noticed the surface of the tree, where the rest of it was removed. He rubbed across its exposed surface with his paw, noticing how smooth it was, free of splinters or rough edges that would cling onto Lucario's fur for all their worth.

"I've heard that some Pokémon have witnessed humans chopping down trees with massive metal contraptions," Torchic recalled. "Do you think that some humans came here while you were away?"

Lucario contemplated the possibility of manmade deforestation briefly. His answer to this was a flat "_Unlikely._"

"_What makes you so sure?_" Beldum inquired.

"_Just look around you._"

Beldum rotated its body a full 360 degrees, examining the barren area. Torchic did the same, tapping its toenails on Lucario's helmet in the process.

"_If humans came over, they would've _literally_ left a distinguishable path of destruction behind them. However, this whole area is enclosed by the surrounding native foliage._"

"Your point is?" Torchic was still unsure.

"_Something _else_ did this, for reasons unknown._"

"_Could another Pokémon have done this?_" Beldum said.

"_Possibly,_" Lucario said before using his Aura Vision ability once more. For a brief amount of time, he scanned his surroundings, looking beyond the area of deforestation that he, Beldum, and Torchic resided upon.

When his Aura Vision faded away into nothingness, he had this to say to his followers: "_However, there's one fatal flaw with that hypothesis._"

"_Like what?_"

"_Where are all of the Pokémon that normally inhabit this forest?_"

Both Beldum and Torchic were rendered speechless. They remembered with detail, as they followed Lucario earlier, that there was no other Pokémon within Celadon Forest, not even one.

"_Let's continue onward,_" Lucario suggested. "_Perhaps they're concentrated in a specific location._"

All three Pokémon ventured deeper within the Core of Celadon Forest. Beldum and Torchic continued within the forest once more—Torchic hopping over from Lucario to Beldum in the process—, leaving only Lucario to look back at the deforestation one more time.

"(What happened here in my absence?)" Lucario thought as he took a long look at this disheartening scene. He proceeded within the forest a full minute after.

* * *

><p>Torchic and Beldum, temporarily absent from Lucario's presence proceeded onward. The foliage of the forest blocked more and more sunlight, until it gave the illusion that it was night. The abnormal setting of the Celadon Forest caused the survival instincts of both Beldum and Torchic to heighten somewhat.<p>

Beldum hovered slowly forward, with Torchic on top of its head, sweeping across the forest with its eye.

"_Do you get the feeling…_" Beldum said, "_…that we're being watched._"

"…Yes," Torchic said while surveying the area in front of it.

As Beldum continued to hover forward, it noticed an oddly-shaped patch of fallen leaves that resided on the base of one of the trees. It hovered closer to it and lowered its height.

"_What do you think this is?_" Beldum said, looking down.

"I'm not sure." Torchic said, stepping backwards to compensate for Beldum's head tilt.

Lucario caught up to them and noticed that they were both observing a point of interest. He looked down at what they were observing and said "_Do you want me to unearth this?_"

They both nodded, Torchic almost losing its balance when Beldum nodded.

"_Alright then,_" Lucario quickly spun its left arm around in a circle and launched a concentrated GUST of wind that blew away the dead leaves. The leaves crumbled in the wind and scattered in fragments to their right.

Upon seeing what he unearthed, he muttered "_Oh my Arceus,_" with mild astonishment.

What he had just unearthed was a decaying _corpse_ of a human being and a couple of small Pokémon that were clutched tightly in its hands. Clothing was still present on the corpse, albeit it was dissolving and rotting alongside the corpse, heavily in random places compared to others.

What struck Lucario odd was what was on the belt that this person wore.

"(Two Poké Balls…)" Lucario thought briefly, only noticing two Poké Balls on the corpse's belt.

Without gagging, or even thinking of how repulsive the corpse looked and smelled—especially to his heightened sense of smell—, he retrieved the Poké Balls with PSYCHIC. He exposed the Luxury Ball that he had on him earlier—the one Wanderer gave him yesterday, which he held onto after leaving his belt behind with his colleagues—from the fur on the side of his thighs and compared it to both Poké Balls that he was holding.

While the Luxury Ball that he held was mostly black in appearance, with a gold band across the center, and a red band above it, the other two Poké Balls looked nothing at all similar to it. One simply looked like an ordinary Poké Ball, painted green in place of red, and decorated with four red "teardrops"—two on the left and two on the right—and a single yellow dot above them. The other Poké Ball had a shadowy black in place of red, and possessed a yellow "H" that covered its entire upper hemisphere.

Through the valuable experience that he obtained in Team Rocket, he was able to deduce the identity of both Poké Balls: a Friend Ball and an Ultra Ball.

Lucario tucked away his Luxury Ball and played a bit with the two new Poké Ball models that he found. "(Did this trainerperish in the center of the forest, unable to locate an exit?)" Lucario thought. "(Perhaps not… This forest may be expansive, but it's no labyrinth of flora.)"

He was about to ask for the opinions of both Beldum and Torchic when he noticed that they were no longer by his side. Since Lucario wasn't using his Aura Vision ability at the moment, he used his eyes to look around himself for them. "(Where did those two go? They're usually right behind me.)"

His finely tuned eyes soon targeted two Pokémon fleeing from their previous location. The shock of the corpse caused them both to flee in a hurry, and away from this part of Celadon Forest.

Lucario was about to run after them when he heard a rustle of the leaves to his left. He looked in that direction and caught a glimpse of a darting figure heading over, at a _blurring_ fast pace, directly over to Beldum and Torchic.

"(Whatever that thing is, it's heading straight for them!)" Lucario thought with his intrinsic instincts flaring.

Not wanting to take the risk in assuming that the unknown figure is _not_ hostile, he pressed the buttons on both of the Poké Balls that he was holding, having them enlarge in his palms. With one quick forward sweep of his arm, he launched them at his two targets, never thinking _once_ that the Poké Balls might've been broken or used by their previous deceased owner. With both Poké Balls in mid-air, he steered their course with his telekinetic abilities.

Both Beldum and Torchic never saw the Poké balls coming behind them as they made direct contact with them. Much to Lucario's intentions, both Pokémon were assimilated within the Poké Balls' complicated circuitry in the form of quintessential red energy. Beldum was captured within the Ultra Ball and Torchic was captured within the Friend Ball.

Both Poké Balls immediately returned to their thrower, _milli_seconds before the trees that surrounded them were leveled in an instant, their trunks cut through horizontally by what appeared to be a faint white horizontal streak of briefly-charged air.

Lucario caught both Poké balls as they flew back towards him. He shrunk them into their compact size and tucked them away beside the Luxury Ball in his possession. The Aura Pokémon was still on the alert after witnessing this sudden deforestation.

"(I didn't even see what cut down those trees…)" Lucario thought, astounded at the speed of the unknown figure.

Before Lucario decided to activate his Aura Vision once more, in order to pinpoint the anonymous figure, the mentioned figure spoke _to_ him, with a hissy lizard-like voice.

"You're trespassing in my forest! Leave now or else you'll join the corpses rotting away here!"

Lucario eyes widened as he recognized the identity of the enigmatic voice in a heartbeat. His eyes began to sting from premature signs of crying.

"_Sceptile, is that you?_" He spoke with tears forming in his eyes.

The figure that Lucario identified as Sceptile jumped over the fallen trees and landed about ten feet in front of the Aura Pokémon. Sure enough, the figure that Lucario identified as Sceptile was _in fact_ the Sceptile that he knew and loved, albeit with moderate differences as to the last time that he and it last met.

The Sceptile that Lucario remembered was free of scars and pristine in physical constitution. The Sceptile that was in front of him _now_ was mostly different in outer appearance. Lucario noticed uncountable quantities of burns and scars littering the Forest Pokémon's body. He noticed that Sceptile's entire right arm, up to the shoulder, was _missing_. Its arm, however, was replaced by what was _strapped_ on Sceptile's back: a massive scabbard that housed an _equally_ massive buster sword.

This buster sword was just as large as Sceptile in terms of body length. It consisted of a long red hilt, long enough to be wielded with both hands—but was only wielded with one—, and was tipped with a circular golden knob at the end. The blade itself was in the shape of a long lengthwise rectangle with a triangle-shaped tip cut off of one end. The blade—metallic silver in color—was sharpened to deadly razor-like quality across all of its edges. The blade and handle were connected by a cylindrical segment that was gold in color.

Overall, the blade just screamed "decapitation hazard" to its target and easily had the mass—and arm _wielding_ it—to level multiple tree trunks in one horizontal sweep.

"(Where in the world did you get that massive sword from?)" Lucario thought privately, never thinking about Sceptile's physical appearance, having a clear understanding of where those scars came from.

"I'll repeat myself," Sceptile said, only this time it crouched down with its feet spread further apart, its left clawed hand _gripping_ the hilt of the massive buster sword. "You're trespassing in my forest. Leave now or I'll kill you where you stand!"

The tears from Lucario's eyes disappeared as quickly as Sceptile's hostile intentions were revealed. "(What's happened to you, Sceptile? What have you become?)" Lucario thought, too much in shock to form a battle stance.

* * *

><p>"No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow." —Alice Walker<p>

* * *

><p>For those who don't recall the final paragraphs at the end of "Parallel Prologue (Part III (3))", it goes like this:<p>

_As for the odd event involving Lucario trying to locate the enemy Steelix from below the earth, only to end up tuned in to the wrong target… The second target that Lucario identified against his intentions could be heard burrowing under the earth where Lucario was captured._

_If Lucario were still around that area, still listening satisfactorily for Steelix's location, he would notice the sounds of the burrowing drawing closer to the surface. Within seconds, he would notice the source of that burrowing. He would notice a green forearm, topped with two short clawed fingers and a short clawed thumb. That same forearm would have two long leaf-like blades on the side of the arm that doesn't have a thumb on it. It would all be marred with serious burns and moderate lacerations._

_All of this would seem somewhat nostalgic to him, especially if that forearm was unmarred._

Odds are that, because of how long ago I've uploaded that chapter, you'd have likely forgotten that part, or wondered where I was going with that.

Well, _this_ is where I was going with that part.

Of course, since this _still_ warrants some questions, I'll be generous by saying this: my next update will bring two new chapters (somewhat short chapters by _my_ standards), which _don't_ leave cliffhangers. "Chapter X (10)" focuses on Eduardo's much needed neighborly acceptance, while "Chapter XI (11)" has Xeno Lucario clashing with Sceptile, and learning important bits of information as to what happened during his absence.

That's it for now, and do be kind as to review. I'm always eager to hear what my fellow readers think of this story. It might be easier, since I heard that the administrators of this website put a bit more focus on the "Review" icon.


	16. Chapter X (10)

Total Hit Count: 2,356

Hello! Me again! Just keeping true to my promise and posting TWO chapters as part of my self-made schedule.

Before getting to the story though, a fair amount personal information.

I got through finals week in college. It wasn't as hard as I thought, especially since I studied beforehand. That was a week ago, from the 18th to the 21st of June. Now, the week following that, I've finished my first of five terms in college, and I'm simply relaxing through a week off of class.

Through that time, alongside part-time work, I'm maximizing it with my three favorite hobbies: trading cards, video games, and FanFiction.

Between my last story update and this one, I've been focusing on selling my Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards on eBay, of which I LITERALLY have a shelf full of them, about 3000-4000 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, and twice that in Pokemon cards. However, I only sell the extras. I can't call myself a card collector if I choose to sell every single card I own.

I'm glad I'm making a healthy profit on them as well, and replenishing how much I've spent in order to get them. For example, just last week, I sold seven Yu-Gi-Oh! Synchro cards. The cards included "Dragunity Knight - Barcha", "Genex Ally Triforce", "Junk Gardna", "Jurrac Meteor", "Majestic Red Dragon", "Majestic Star Dragon", and "Malefic Paradox Dragon". At the end of the auction, I made over $14 on them, which is very reasonable when i considered the fact that each individual card goes for about $2-3 on eBay.

In terms of video games, I find myself buying more games than playing them, likely because of work and college, as well as this FanFic hobby of mine, all occupying a good bulk of my time. As it stands right now, I just beat _Trauma Center: Under the Knife_, for the Nintendo DS. The game is infamous for being split-your-DS-system-in-half-and-then-chuck-both-halves-at-the-wall hard, however I found myself failing only a few times overall, likely because this was my second playthrough of the game, my first one I found myself relying on Action Replay cheats on the last few main operations of the game, as well as the brutal, brutal, BRUTAL extra operations post-game. Thankfully, on my second round of this game, I only used Action Replay on the post-game operations, just because I wanted to get through something that was borderline IMPOSSIBLE, and a risk to the wellbeing of my Nintendo 3DS (even though I find the idea of breaking a perfectly good piece of tech for no reason completely obscene).

Other games I'm playing right now are _Super Mario Sunshine_ (Nintendo GameCube), _Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights_ (Nintendo 3DS), and the recent release of _Pokemon Conquest_ (Nintendo DS). All three games, in my opinion, are just great, and I'm balancing my progress on all three as I go along.

Finally, my FanFic hobby.

It LITERALLY took me 4 1/2 months to write the penultimate, 33,500 word LEVIATHAN of "Chapter XVII (17)" of this story. I could've scraped off a few weeks, or even a month, if I didn't take my time with it, but I don't mind. I'll have you know that "Chapter XVII (17)" is the chapter where both Eduardo and Lucario FINALLY meet up.

Unfortunately, it wont be up here until a few months from now, and I'd rather not lay out my entire hand on what I've written. Id rather have a cushion of work that I can update incrementally, rather than simultaneously, until it runs out and the future chapters that I write are simply proofread and uploaded.

Well, that's enough for now, and all that I have to say about this chapter is that the single song within it is a touching piano tune from _Kingdom Hearts II_.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter X (10): Reunion<strong>

Location: My Laboratory (Recovery Room)

Date: January 1st, 60 A.D.

Time: 9:00 PM

After falling unconscious for most of the current day, I awaken in a medium-sized hospital room, in a far better state of constitution than before. My entire draconic body was facing upward and relaxed on _six_ hospital beds, connected widthwise and arraigned in the same manner as piano keys. The six beds in total were large enough to support my height—fifteen feet exactly—and well-built to support my entire weight—1000 lbs.

I turn my massive head to my right side and notice my strapped belongings—my S1-GS device, my S2-PTSDOv.2 device, and my twenty-six S3-OSS devices—in their holsters, hanging off of a metal pole with a wheeled base, the same type utilized to harbor IV fluids. Only, there were no bags for IV fluids present on the pole—likely because my armor-like scaly hide proved too difficult to penetrate with a feeble needle.

However, I did a portable vacuum cleaner to the side, _dissolved_, mostly in its internal circuitry, as well as the cylindrical nozzle. This was likely used to treat my collapsed lung, despite the sheer crudeness of the equipment utilized. I quickly assumed this because I no longer had any lingering symptoms of this pneumothorax, and the evidence of the equipment utilized was present before me, as a melted pile of carpet cleaning equipment.

"(What am I doing in my laboratory's Recovery Room?)" I thought, lacking any reminiscence after falling unconscious. "(Did Costas and Ian have a part as to why I'm here now?)"

To merely recollect my memories of my old laboratory, I stared at the ceiling light fixtures, the paned fluorescent tubes of light. I recalled how in this state of body, I was able to see with _both_ of my eyes, compared to my normal physical vessel, where I have to wear an eye patch over my left eye.

I recall my body's current constitution and raised a hand to palpate my injuries accordingly. The skull-exposing head laceration that I had prior to defeating Mars was now a scab over my head and no longer stung when so much as a breeze strikes it. The puncture wound on the left side of my ribcage, the one that led to the deflation of my left lung, was no longer there either. The only thing that remained of it was a round scab, about the circumference of a dime, and mild internal irritation every time I inhale. Of course, that just might be mild bruising from the method performed, and would disappear without second thoughts.

Since I was still in this state of body, and because I never had the time to take a moment to consider what I've become during the fight earlier, I bent my wings and elongated tail inward of my body, placing them in front of my face for me to judge.

Before my eyes, I could clearly point out two gigantic wings, how their structure was similar to the wings of a bat, albeit larger, thicker, and _far_ more stalwart.

As for my tail, I found it to be long, slender, and sufficiently whip-like—similar to that of the green iguana, yet larger and far more powerful. It also showed potential to be somewhat ambidextrous, if I wrapped my head around possibilities to maximize the use of this appendage.

Setting these three new body parts aside, I stared blankly in front of me. "(What in the world happened to me?)" I thought with a tone of voice that didn't spark despair, merely curiosity as to how I became this.

Minutes went by in this room, and to pass the time as well as keep me occupied, I found it appropriate to recollect my battle earlier with Mars's Roman legion of his remaining soldiers, from the original 500 that he brought alongside him to command.

I recalled every last detail of the fight between the villagers and the remaining soldiers of the originating 500, the ones that they failed to defeat prior to my involvement.

I remembered the moment that I stepped out of the safety of my house and how quickly I became enraged at the sight of my village home burning down to the ground, despite the fact that I recently wanted no part of this village anymore after my banishment.

How could I forget the complete pain that I endured throughout my transformation? The pain alone would sear into the memory of anyone's mind.

I recall vividly how savagely I decimated the remaining Roman legion, how I used what limited quantity of aura I had in reserve, as well as what surplus of fatigue and determination I had, to vanquish the threat.

I recall the injuries I endured throughout the fight: the collapsed left lung, the piercing of the fifty arrows all across my durable body and the downward sword chop that Mars inflicted onto my skull.

What I remember the most is the final moments of Mars's life, where I was the bell of death that tolled for his final judgment.

* * *

><p>(Eduardo's Flashback)<p>

_ "(I'm going to kill you now!)" I retracted my right arm as far back as I was able to and prepped myself to thrust it forward and deliver the energy onto him. I snarled demonically before doing so._

_ "If you let me go, Eduardo, I'll leave this village and retire from my profession as General! I beg of you! Don't kill me!"_

_ It was now or never for Mars. He played his trump card, hoping that it was potent enough._

_ "Does it not _interest_ you of what I have to say about the _visitor_ that came here one month ago?"_

_ "…" I froze in place and silenced myself, my arm stopping midway before hitting him, my grip never easing up on him for a second. What he said just now, albeit unexpected, interested me, and to show Mars that I was interested, I shook him gently—to the best of my ability—with my left arm to have him talk further._

_ "That _bitch_ of a visitor came here one month ago and decided to spare me out of mercy!" Mars began to describe what he had to say. "I came here one month ago, with a legion of 500 soldiers, waiting to burn this place into the ground. We were tipped of your banishment and came here as fast as we could move. Without you in sight, my victory over here was guaranteed!"_

_ "(This is what Costas and Ian meant to tell me?)" I thought, listening attentively, yet not dissipating my aura technique._

_ "However, _it_ decided to protect this village, out of some…" Mars lifted his hands in front of his chest and twitched his first two fingers, "…'I'll-scratch-your-back-and-you'll-scratch-mine' crap. _It_ showed abilities similar to those of your own. It was fully capable of speech, but didn't open its mouth! Its appearance…it was and was _not human!_ And in the end, that alien of nature spared me and decided to wash me away north on the Red Sea, giving me its entire _name_ out of pity."_

_ "…" I processed the information Mars told me in a heartbeat—thankful that my heart resumed beating earlier—, attempting to imagine how _it_ was able to decimate a legion of 500 Roman soldiers with abilities similar to my own._

_ Mars's breathing stabilized and his tone of voice seemed full of hope. "If you let me go," he said, "I'll tell you what it told me. I'll tell you its name."_

_ "(I wonder what Costas's and Ian's side of this story is,)" I thought, barely noticing Mars's words. "(I'm sure that they acquainted themselves with it in some way.)"_

_ "Well? Do we have a deal: my freedom, for information on a being that is, from my experience, parallel to you?"_

_ "…" I pondered this over, long enough for Mars to grow uneasy again._

_ "…I'm begging you!" His voice turned sour again. "Spare me and take my deal—"_

_ "__**Go to hell!**__" I actually _spoke_ while in this form, albeit not in my normal human tone of voice. The voice that resided on this body was _entirely_ different from my normal voice. My first voice, adolescent and wise beyond my age, now became this _second_ voice, deep, malicious, and capable of rumbling the earth._

_ "W-What d-did you say?"_

_ "__**Go to hell! Tell it to the Devil when you meet Him!**__" I raised my right hand back as far as it could go, once more._

_ "…__**!**__" Mars screamed at the top of his lungs, his mouth opened wider than he ever thought physically possible, to the point where his jaws almost popped out of their sockets. His life ends here, and he knew it._

_ My hand, with the _Aero Typhoon Palm_ technique still flaring strongly, was planted swiftly onto his back. And instantly, the attack _detonated_, with all of its churning energy directed _forward_, as I intended._

_ Because the energy was so greatly concentrated, Mars's entire midsection _exploded_ outward, with blood spraying forward and partially mixing into the airborne sand. This _sanguine_ dust cleared after the directed explosion dispersed across the air. The scene that everybody was capable of viewing was bordering on the lines of absolute madness and scarring of the psychology._

_ I was still holding onto Mars in the same way as before, only my right hand was where his armored back is. From his backside, Mars appeared completely normal, his armor having only dented slightly from the back._

_ From his _front_ side however, he was clearly cadaverous. The armor plating on his front side completely blew off and what remained was in the shape of scrap metal. His entire midsection was _obliterated_. Mars appeared completely gutted, as if given a raw and nightmarish necropsy, having lost all of his internal organs after the _Aero Typhoon Palm_ activated and resolved. His internal organs were _nowhere_ to be seen, having torn up under the immense turbulence of the gale and dissipated in the form of miniscule bits and _sanguine_ dust. Only the _back_ of his ribcage, scapula, and spine were present on his internal cavities, stained red from the _massive_ hemorrhaging that I had him sustain. Pools of blood and _bone_ fragments were in front of Mars's brutally deceased body, scattered both far and near him._

_ Also, since he was stuck screaming at the top of his lungs, his face stuck in the last position that it was presently before his untimely demise. His eyes and his mouth were agape, widely. It was unanimously a horrifying sight to see: Mars appearing to scream in pain post-death, with his entire midsection hollowed out as if he were a cow, butchered for its meat._

_ Since I delivered the impact onto him—and therefore knew well enough of the results of my actions—, I decided to the dispose of the body already._

_ Looking at the Red Sea—the sea that Mars mentioned earlier—I uncoiled my tail grip on his ankles and threw his body there with all my strength, sending him flying into the water, where the backside of his body slapped the surface of the sea. His hollow chest cavity then flooded with sea water. And eventually, his body could no longer maintain buoyancy with the water weight and inevitably submerged underneath the surface._

_ Mars's corpse left behind a sanguine trail as it descended further and further within the sea, eternally lost and in a dreg of time, forgotten._

* * *

><p>(End of Eduardo's Flashback)<p>

All throughout that fight, between draconic I and the Roman legion of the remaining invading soldiers, there was an odd characteristic that I had present, that I realized now post-battle.

I was in complete _control_ over myself, despite my new body and despite my ferocity. I could've easily rampaged across my home village, obliterating all that I see, be it friend, foe, or inanimate object, out of primal instinct and extremely _blind_ thought. My mind could've been incarcerated, permanently or temporary, within the prison cell that my body might've become for me.

And yet I _didn't_.

That single fact alone was, in my opinion, critical with this transformation. "(I seriously doubt that I could've been in absolute control of myself in this state of body if this was the first time I underwent this metamorphosis. And yet I was in control of myself, as if _familiar_ with this body,)" I thought, partially discombobulated at this theory I had. "(How can that be?)"

_**Knock! Knock! Knock!**_

My ash-black eyes were immediately aimed onto the door on the far right corner of the Recovery Room, my head lifted slightly to allow me to see properly. "**Who's there?**" I said, stopping there when I heard myself speak with a voice that could loosen bowel control involuntarily.

There was an abnormally large delay between my response and the actual opening of the door, likely caused by the tone of voice I now possessed. Two people crossed through the doorway once the door was out of the way: my two brothers, Costas and Ian.

"It's nice to see that you're awake, Eduardo," Ian said.

"So, how're you feeling right now?" Costas clapped his hands together and began. "Any head trauma? You look like you've taken a bigger blow to the skull than I have in a while."

My answer was simple. "**I feel alright,**" I said, once more with my new voice.

"…" They had despondent countenances on them, hunched over, as if of fear.

I could clearly tell by their reaction that they found this unusual voice of mine frightening…_highly_ frightening. It didn't bother me at all, most likely because I was the one _speaking_ through it, although I began to wonder how this would inhibit our conversation.

To see for myself, I spoke once more.

"**What's the matter?**"

"…" More cringing and silence from both Costas and Ian.

I simply waited patiently until they mollified for their response. When they did, Ian was the first to speak up.

"Don't you have anything to speak _for_ you?" Ian said, unsure as to what I've manufactured during my banishment, and as well as _absolutely_ sure that there was no such device inside of my laboratory that he was aware of. "Some sort of voice modulator, perhaps?"

I looked to my right side and eyed my strapped belongings. My eyes, although Costas and Ian were clueless as to what I was looking at specifically, were locked onto my S2-PTSDOv.2 device. Ian, although he didn't know it, specified the functions of a program that I've developed and installed into that specific S-Rank invention of mine.

"Do you want me to get that for you?" Costas offered his assistance.

"**No need,**" I said inadvertently.

"…" More cringing and silence from them both again.

Disregarding this, I focused faint amounts of Purple (Psychic) Aura onto both of my eyes, having them turn into the color of the specified Elemental Aura. The amount of aura utilized was kept to a minimum, since I was feeling unsure as to how much aura I had replenished during my slumber, and I decided to use my abilities cautiously. My S2-PTSDOv.2 device emerged from its holster and gracefully hovered away from there, stopping just above my chest. The stylus located to its right side was dislocated and used to access its interface. I could use the VCP—Voice Command Program—to access my invention, but I would just spook my two friends further if I did.

"(What do they find so daunting about this new voice of mine?)" I thought, feeling that their reactions are hyperbolic at best, especially when they know me well enough to look past that.

Both Costas and Ian witness the device that was hovering directly above me, knowing well enough that they've never seen it before.

"(What have you been doing over the last decade?)" Costas thought, seeing the stylus dance away on top of the lower touch screen of my Different System.

"(I see you've still been manufacturing cutting-edge technology during your banishment,)" Ian thought, once the stylus stopped tapping away at the screen.

I had accessed the program that would allow me to speak to them without speaking with my second voice—although I still questioned their unnecessary reactions—: the VFP (Voice Falsifier Program). With the keyboard loaded onto the lower touch screen, I forced the stylus to tap in this phrase.

"I'M READY, SO ASK AWAY AT WHATEVER IS IN YOUR MIND," A perfect emulation of my normal voice resonated from the speakers of the Different System.

Costas was the first to ask at what was on his mind. "What did it feel like to transform like that?"

I thought about this in an instant and inputted the appropriate words into the Different System's touch screen keyboard, amplifying my Purple (Psychic) Aura slightly so that I could input each individual letter with surprising speed.

"TRY TO IMAGINE WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE BURNED ALIVE DUE TO A FIRED FLAMING ARROWHEAD, TO HAVE YOUR BONES STRETCH TO UNPRECEDENTED LENGTHS, YOUR SKIN PEEL OFF FROM THE ACIDITY OF YOUR OWN BLOOD AND YOUR MUSCLES GROW TO RIDICULOUS SIZES. IMAGINE THAT WHILE ONE TAIL, TWO WINGS, AND SCALES EMERGE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRANSMOGRIFICATION PROCESS."

Costas crossed his arms and had this vacant stare in his eyes as he imagined how all of that felt like.

"What in the world caused you to become a dragon?" Ian spoke during Costas's mental occupation.

"I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA," I continued to input the words. "IT JUST OCCURRED SPONTANEOUSLY, WHEN I WAS FEELING TREMENDOUS RAGE. I NEVER EVEN KNEW THAT I WAS CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING _INTO_ THIS." The word "INTO" was spoken with greater emphasis, under my inputted instructions.

"How were you able to fight so well then, since you never transformed into this at all?" Costas said, having given up on pondering over the pain that I felt in the middle of my transformation.

"THE GREATEST CHALLENGE FOR ME TO OVERCOME THROUGHOUT THE FIGHT WASN'T MY UNFAMILIARITY WITH THIS BODY, RATHER THE IMMEASURABLE FATIGUE THAT I ACQUIRED POST-METAMORPHOSIS."

"Are you sure you've never become this at all?" Ian inquired, wanting a definitive answer.

"YES." That answer was inputted immediately.

"How are you able to speak in that tone of voice?" Costas wondered.

"**How the hell should I know?**" I spoke in said tone of voice, _not_ using the Different System for this on purpose, since Costas brought up the topic.

"…" They both cringed once more, and I rolled my eyes plainly at this.

I continued to use the Different System for my speech. "ARE ANY OF YOU WONDERING IF I'LL BE ABLE TO CHANGE BACK?"

They both nodded once they mollified.

"I'VE HONESTLY NO CLUE AS TO HOW I'LL BE ABLE TO."

"Are you staying a dragon forever?" Ian asked, with concern.

"NO. I DON'T PLAN ON IT, BECAUSE I DON'T QUIT."

Before their eyes and much to their surprise, I decided to get up and off of my connected beds, standing upright on my two massive feet with no apparent signs of fatigue or vertigo.

With the Purple (Psychic) Aura that I was still emanating from my eyes, I caused the remainder of my equipment to hover towards me, where I manually strapped it back onto my torso. The "sash" part of my equipment had to stretch to compensate this new body. However, I _designed_ these shoulder straps/holsters to be as resistant and stalwart as the "S-Rank" devices that I carry around me. Before ending my Elemental Aura usage, I had my stylus return to my S2-PTSDOv.2 device and the device itself to the holster on my left side.

"**I'll get to work on reverting myself right away,**" I said with a warm tone in my brick-shitting voice. "**It shouldn't be so hard, with my resources and intellect anyway.**"

Both of them cringed again, and thankfully they were finally growing accustomed to the ominous tone that my two voices seemed to create.

"…Okay…" They both said in unison.

I began to walk towards the door, slowly at first, in case my body hasn't fully recovered yet. I was about to grip the small handle with one of my massive hands, however both Costas and Ian stopped me before I did.

"Hang on, Eduardo. We forgot to tell you something," Ian said.

"We never told you _how_ you came here," Costas said.

"**I assume you used a wheeled gurney to carry me here?**" I said with little interest, since I was focused on reverting back, and I already knew that they successfully managed to carry my entirety over here.

"Well, yes, however we needed more help, since you weighed so much and we couldn't hoist you up by ourselves."

I remained temporarily still, pondering what Costas meant by "needed more help". My time pondering the matter was brief, once I thought of the only possible solution to their earlier dilemma.

"**…You didn't…**" I said with astonishment.

"We did," Ian said, smiling faintly.

"**…And they…**_**wanted**__**to?**_"

"Mm-hmm," Costas hummed.

I opened the door, and as I stepped through the doorway, I was immediately present before the remaining villagers that survived the battle against the nefarious Roman soldiers. They all had signs of injury, but were treated by both Costas and Ian, during the time when I was resting. Some wore bandages on their arms and on their heads. Others had on casts on their arms and legs, in order to repair their broken bones.

They all had despondent countenances on their faces, but their injuries weren't causing this.

_Friends in My Heart/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD3 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Before I knew it, my inner ears were suddenly overflowing with apologies from these brave people.

"We were all so ignorant back then."

"We let our own fear overtake our sense of judgment."

"We didn't see you for what you really were."

"Or for what you did for this village, your home."

"You always defended us."

"You always protected us from harm."

"Even we thought of you as a monster."

"Who was put on this world to harm us."

"We saw you for your actions, but not for your choices."

"We were all so prejudiced."

"We drove you away, because of our fear towards you."

"And yet you came back, after we banished you a decade ago."

"You always use those powers and items of yours for our safety."

"You use them to fortify he safety of this village and of its population."

"You put our safety before yourself."

"You risk your life for the wellbeing of ours."

"Not even as a hideous dragon, did you ever think otherwise."

"Can you ever forgive us?"

"Can you relinquish our mistakes, those many years ago?"

The apologies that I heard just now literally shook me to my very soul. I couldn't hold back the urge to cry after hearing such repent, and could feel my tears roll down my scaly cheeks, and then drop off to the floor.

It's almost taboo of me to consider the thought of losing interest for this nostalgic home of mine, when I remembered that these people and this place meant a lot to me. It seemed like such a heartless choice at the time.

Costas and Ian observed this moment through the window of the Recovery Room that I was previously residing in. They knew that I was touched emotionally. They could tell from the small puddle that my tears were making. They could tell from the mild sobbing that I was unable to control, and simply waited for me to accept their apology.

For this brief moment, I felt temporarily detached from my own body. I couldn't feel my heartbeat in my chest, my shallow breathing, my immense wingspan, or the soreness of my fresh scars. It felt as if my eyes were the only tangible part of me. I almost didn't feel my broad, scaly mouth open, with my bass vocal chords vibrating, when I said these next four words:

"**I accept your apology.**"

"…" I saw every villager before me drop in height by at least six inches, cringing after hearing my tone of voice, despite my tender tone of voice.

Now it was _my_ turn to apologize.

"**I'm sorry. I can't control this voice of mine.**" I said, chuckling mildly afterward and wiping away the tears from my face, but only briefly because every sound that I make had this voice in play, and I didn't want to be held responsible for any "accidents" that this voice may inflict into the colons of these people.

_(Song Fades into Silence)_

* * *

><p>"What is your will, anyway? Nobody can see it. You don't hear it thinking. You only know what your will is afterward, when you look back in your life and see what you've done." —Orson Scott Card (12) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>__"_)

* * *

><p><em>Friends in my Heart<em>...

There's actually two versions of that song, the original in _Kingdom Hearts_, and then the better-sounding upgrade in _K__ingdom Hearts II_.

I simply chose the one that sounded a bit better, even though they both still contain the same melody.

Either way, this song still adds some emotion to the situation where I applied it.


	17. Chapter XI (11)

Not much new I have to say here, because what I normally have to say I already said in the chapter preceding this one.

All that I have to say is that this chapter focuses on the impending conflict between Sceptile and Xeno Lucario. Also, the two songs within this story are as followed: one is a highly-emotional tune from _Halo 2_, and the other is yet another battle theme from _Kingdom Hearts II_, of which the overall series has a fantastic surplus of.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XI (11): Connecting to what was Lost<strong>

Location: Celadon Forest (Core)

Date: October 17th, 2011

Time: 3:03 PM

Sceptile unsheathed the massive buster sword on its back and charged directly at Lucario, moving surprisingly quickly for one wielding such a heavy weapon.

Lucario saw this coming, but was in too much shock to decide to retaliate against this. Instead, he only chose to evade.

Sceptile closed their distance in only a few seconds, beginning to slash relentless at the Aura Pokémon, swinging the buster sword in one hand with relative ease, despite its weight and the fact that it is a _two-handed weapon_.

Lucario evades each and every mighty sword swing, never using Aura Vision for this. He steps back as Sceptile moves forward, the buster sword striking and rending tree trunks in two in the crossfire.

On a relatively thick tree, Sceptile's weapon lodges into it. Lucario steps back far enough to be out of the buster sword's range, and the Forest Pokémon attempted to remove the sword from the tree.

Lucario, recovering from his shock earlier, deliberately chooses not to fight his "friend" while it's vulnerable and dislodging its buster sword from the tree. Instead, he attempts to get some necessary answers out of it.

"_You don't seem like yourself!_" Lucario mentioned what was on his mind. "_Are you acting out on something?_"

Sceptile, once it dislodged its sword, had this to say.

"I've lost someone important in my life, and I can't get it back."

Lucario strongly believes that Sceptile is referring to that specific day, when it was captured by Team Rocket in this very forest. He thinks of Tiny, and grew somewhat worried when Sceptile was oddly specific and mentioned "someone" rather than "some things".

Both Pokémon remain in a standstill, Sceptile still holding onto its massive weapon, letting its tip rest on the ground so that it wasn't weighing it down unnecessarily. The Forest Pokémon begins to ponder about what occurred during that day, over a year ago.

"Those humans, with the sanguine "R"s on their uniforms… They destroyed my tree house, while Tiny and I were inside." Sceptile began to recall, speaking in a monotone. "The Koffing and Weezing clumped around us both. One Weezing in particular enveloped my right arm."

Lucario looked at Sceptile's right arm—or _lack_ thereof, to be more precise—and figured that the explosion mutilated its arm. It didn't say anything further about that matter and listened attentively as Sceptile continued.

"You were there when the explosion occurred. I assumed you died trying to rescue us both."

Lucario seemed almost alarmed to hear it say that. "(You thought I died?)" He thought solemnly.

"The explosion knocked us both back violently. I lost my right arm in the shockwave and endured significant burns across my body. However, Tiny sustained worse…_much_ worse, but I didn't know it yet. The two of us escaped underground to avoid further danger."

Lucario pondered heavily at what Sceptile had just said. It now realized that before his capture, that was Sceptile he heard beneath the earth, adjacent to Giovanni's Steelix that resided down there as well. He disregards how they managed to avoid the Iron Snake Pokémon—be it out of dexterous evasion and placement underground or simply dumb luck.

However, he still had this one critical question to ask, one that was on his mind:

"_What…happened to Tiny?_" He said soberly, almost hesitantly.

"…" Sceptile appeared melancholy and looked down at the ground, thinking about what happened next and recalling it vividly.

* * *

><p><em><span>17.1: A Blue Flame Dies Young<span>_

Location: Celadon Forest (Base Level)

Directly after the events that occurred in the forest—the capture of Lucario and Wanderer under the criminal organization Team Rocket—, Sceptile's left hand emerges to the afternoon surface of the earth. With that one arm, it shuffles away enough dirt before hoisting itself out of the hole it created, with Tiny feebly gripping and clinging onto its back.

Sceptile placed itself adjacent to the corner of the hole in the dirt from where it emerged from. It scraped dirt that clung onto its burns, flinching somewhat when it had to touch them, _greatly_ resisting the urge to cry in pain when touching its own raw flesh.

As it did so to whatever parts of its body had dirt clinging onto it, Sceptile pondered over what happened to Lucario during the explosion.

* * *

><p>(Sceptile's Flashback)<p>

_ Sceptile opened its eyes for a brief moment, noticing Lucario running towards it. Its eyes widened quickly, yet Tiny's eyes remained clamped shut, its being fully cringed for fear of death._

_ "…Lucario…?" Sceptile said at the sight of the Aura Pokémon, here of all places._

_ "_…Scep—_"_

**BOOM!**

_ Just as he was within ten feet of saving his friends, the Koffing and Weezing immediately detonated, exploding with an immense shockwave since they were all concentrated so closely together. What could be seen by everyone is a spherical red fireball that gave a massive knockback to whatever was within fifteen feet of it._

_ No one even noticed Sceptile and Tiny flying away from the location, _completely_ engulfed in fire._

* * *

><p>(End of Sceptile's Flashback)<p>

"(Could you have survived the explosion, Lucario?)" Sceptile pondered to itself. "(I suppose I won't know until I find—)"

_**Thud!**_

Tiny fell onto the floor nearby Sceptile's feet, unconscious and breathing shallowly. Only then did Sceptile come into full light of Tiny's current state of being, and show grave despondency over its blue furry friend.

To put it simply, Tiny had unwillingly one-upped on Sceptile's burn and mutilation injuries. It sustained _much_ more severe burns—burns which left multiple bald, _roasted_ spots on its fur—, and instead of simply losing its right arm in the explosion, it also lost its right leg and the tip of its tail.

Because Tiny used PROTECT earlier to bulwark it and Sceptile from the projectile conflagrations of multiple Fire-Type Pokémon, Tiny was already made physically feeble to begin with. The explosion just added insult to injury, as well as injury.

Sceptile, with its remaining left hand, gently picked Tiny up, being very careful—as well as having considerable difficulty—not to touch any area of its body that was burned by the spontaneous inferno. Being equally as careful, it had the critically marred Emanation Pokémon rest on the top of its arm, superseding Tiny's condition over its own.

"Tiny…are you alright?"

Tiny's eyes were simply closed, its face cadaverous and its entire body dripping of blood, a worrying sign indeed for the Forest Pokémon, because it could feel the blood running down its left arm. It felt, much to its growing apprehension, _colder_ than usual.

With more concern, Sceptile worryingly shakes Tiny's body, hoping for an answer, and temporarily absent of Tiny's physical state of being. "Answer me, please!"

Tiny's eyes opened, albeit with a despondent, hollow look in its countenance. "I can't tell you…how much pain…I'm in right now." Tiny spoke softly, straining itself just to speak.

Sceptile instinctively reached for a seed-like nodule that grew on its back, utilizing PSYCHIC instead of its remaining left arm—because Tiny was occupied by its arm. Its eyes temporarily flashed blue and it had one of its seed-like nodules plucked from its back and hovered before its eyes.

Much to Sceptile's disappointment, the explosion that Sceptile endured also targeted the seed-like nodules, leaving them burned to a crisp, rendering them useless. The Forest Pokémon simply threw this piece of itself away, where it crumbled into ash upon hitting the dirt.

As a substitute—a poor one to say the least—, Sceptile asks of Tiny's current condition.

"How are you holding up, Tiny?"

"…Had better days…" Tiny mumbled, hardly able to smile from the burns inflicted onto its face, before noticing what remained of Sceptile's left arm. "…You…?"

Tiny's response almost brought tears to its eyes. "I've had worse," Sceptile lied, concealing its growing emotional pain to the best of its ability.

"…Okay…" Tiny said incoherently, hardly caring if Sceptile lied or not.

"(*Sniff*)" Sceptile's eyes began to water, knowing well enough that Tiny's condition was already causing the Emanation Pokémon to falter physically.

"…Where's…Lucario…?" Tiny wondered, feebly rolling its eyes around itself.

"I'm not sure," Sceptile speculated. "It was in the explosion when trying to save us both. I honestly don't know if Lucario survived."

"…And…Wanderer…?"

Sceptile honestly had no idea of Wanderer's current situation, so it had this to say.

"Wanderer might've been targeted by those people that attacked us." Sceptile never knew that it was beginning to cry. It was too focused on Tiny's wellbeing, which in turn was causing an emotional overflow within itself.

_Remembrance/Halo 2 Volume 1 Original Soundtrack/Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori_

_(Song Begins)_

Tiny didn't seem to show any obvious interest in either Lucario's or Wanderer's current condition. It didn't seem concerned if they were alive or not. All that it knew was that its time here was numbered.

Tiny looked at the sky, for as long as its vision allowed it to, forming a small smile in the process.

Sceptile worried for its life, believing that Tiny will die momentarily. It seemed—quite literally—_painfully_ obvious that Tiny's injuries were too great for it to cope with.

"…My fallen friends…I can see them…reaching out to me…" Tiny mumbled while reaching for the sky with its right paw, waiting for them to hoist it up.

Sceptile, out of confusion, looked at the blue sky above it, noticing nothing of relevance. The only thing that looking at the sky did for the Forest Pokémon was help it realize that Tiny was blood-starved to the point of hallucination.

"I'm coming…guys…" Tiny said before its right arm went limp.

Sceptile looks back at Tiny, seeing how its eyes are closed and its right arm is lifeless. Sceptile attempts to get its attention once more by shaking it mildly, only to realize that Tiny passed away in its arm.

A few of Sceptile's tears dripped down from its eyes and fell on top of the face of the Emanation Pokémon, once it knew for certain that one of its longtime friends had died.

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><span>Time: 3:20 PM<span>

"After Tiny died, I had it cremated, as it did to its brethren long ago." Sceptile said, _still_ staring at the dirt in the ground, before looking back up at the attentive Aura Pokémon. "In sacrificing its own life, it saved my own."

Lucario, bottling his emotions after hearing the fact that Tiny passed away shortly in his absence, comprehended quickly what Sceptile had to say, and had this to say in return.

"_You have Tiny to thank—_"

"For _what_?" Sceptile suddenly snapped in anger. "What do I have it to thank for losing my arm, you, and Wanderer to those humans? I would've rather have perished in the explosion! That way, I wouldn't be _scarred_ with this loss!"

The spontaneous outburst caught Lucario off guard, but he continued nevertheless, in an attempt to mollify the Forest Pokémon—whom was gradually growing into a Fire-Type in terms of sheer emotion.

"_...What matters is that I've returned after my absence. Wanderer is coming back here as well, once we meet again._"

Sceptile remained silent and transparent of Lucario's remark, and decides to change the topic when it ogled its buster sword in hand.

"Do you want to know," Sceptile temporarily hoisted the massive blade up to his face, eyeing the sharpness of the steel, "how I came to wield this blade?"

Lucario seemed somewhat surprised at how quickly Sceptile _discarded_ his words just now.

"I obtained this blade from the forgotten cargo of a traveling blacksmith, a few days after Tiny died." Sceptile sheathed the sword behind its back and looked back at Lucario. "For those few days in between, I lacked motive in my life. I ate, drank, and slept next to nothing. I just…lived like the trees that are abundant here. I can't tell you how many times I thought of suicide then, as I was recovering from my harsh injuries."

"(Suicide…?)" Lucario was stunned to hear Sceptile consider such a thing.

"However, all of that changed once I found this buster sword." Sceptile spoke sinisterly, its hissing accent intensifying somewhat. "With it, I secluded myself in this forest that I call home by driving out _all_ of its inhabitants, by fury as I preferred."

"(That would explain the leveled area of Celadon Forest that I passed by…)" Lucario pondered.

"Anyone that would enter this forest, I would kill without hesitation, be they human _or_ Pokémon."

"(…And that would also explain the corpse of the person and his/her clutched Pokémon.)"

Sceptile grips the hilt of its buster sword, never forgetting Lucario's existence here in this forest. "That goes for you as well, Aura Pokémon."

"_And for what reason…?_" Lucario asks, finding Sceptile's behavior to be unbelievably unstable.

"For forgetting the fact that Lucario, Tiny, and Wanderer have left this world."

Lucario was rendered discombobulated. Aside from the fact that Sceptile spoke of him in third-person perspective, it seems to deny what he's stated earlier.

To remind the Forest Pokémon of this decisive fact, he repeated himself.

"_Do you recall what I said earlier, how I've _returned_ from my absence, and Wanderer's on its way back as well?_"

"Yes, however there's one problem with that." Sceptile said, unsheathing its buster sword, and forming a battle stance—much to Lucario's astonishment. "I don't see Lucario. I only see a slave to humanity. I highly doubt that armor was manufactured by Pokémon."

"_How _warped_ has your mind become, Sceptile?_" Lucario shouted, just before realizing that words were going to get him nowhere.

"Last chance, Aura Pokémon. Leave this forest, or I'll use your skull as a pot for tree saplings." Sceptile demanded, never loosening its battle stance.

"(*Sigh*) _I suppose there's no reasoning with you, Sceptile…_" Lucario tilted his head down, in defeat of trying to negotiate with the arboreal threat. Suddenly, he his head back upward, with Aura Vision activated. He formed a battle stance, and said "_I'll just have to _pummel_ that irrelevance out of you!_"

"Strong words for someone whose life is in my hand."

* * *

><p><em><span>17.2: Rumble in the Jungle! Aura vs. Forest<span>_

_The Encounter/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack - CD5 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Sceptile made its first move. By using PSYCHIC, it telekinetically commanded all six of its seed-like nodules to detach from its back and fire straight at Lucario, without altering its stance in the least.

Lucario's Aura Vision, flaring stalwartly, sensed SEED BOMB coming and erected a protective bulwark, courtesy of PROTECT, without so much as moving a paw.

Sceptile's SEED BOMB technique made contact with Lucario's PROTECT bulwark and detonated forcefully, coating the entire area in front of Lucario in a layer of thick dust, kicked up by the loose forest soil.

The Forest Pokémon was unable to transcend the dust cloud with its eyes, until it utilized Aura Vision itself to bypass this optical obstacle. In utilizing this technique, its eyes gleamed gold, its horns resonated and radiated minute amounts of green aura. And armed with its buster sword, it charges towards Lucario at high speed.

Lucario, with his Aura Vision ability, sees Sceptile coming beyond the sand veil and simply remained put with PROTECT.

Sceptile, charging forward, sees Lucario's defensive intent and positions its buster sword for a forward thrust. Channeling power into it, the buster sword glows brilliantly silver, imbued with the FEINT technique.

Lucario can't sense Sceptile's intentions in time—because Sceptile's speed is too great—and suddenly finds his bulwark _shattered_. Sceptile's momentum kept it going forward, and its buster sword catches onto Lucario's chest plate, just below his chest spike. The armor holds firm and doesn't give under the momentum, and Lucario is only flung back from the attack, astonished somewhat at Sceptile's surprising speed and power, as well as the resistance of his battle armor.

Once Lucario stops himself from moving backward by planting his padded feet onto the dirt, he suddenly finds Sceptile above his head, about to drop down with the buster sword angled down towards him. Lucario, thinking quickly, used DIG to bury himself deep enough underground, moments before Sceptile's sword could pierce him. All Sceptile's sword pierced was the hole of dirt on the floor.

"(Evasive little bitch…)" Sceptile pondered an expletive at Lucario's evasion. "(I should do something about it.)"

Sceptile temporarily lets go of its weapon, leaving it positioned as it is. All of a sudden, the Forest Pokémon begins to generate a monumental amount of green aura surrounding it, stretching as far as four feet from its body. It concentrates it all into the palm of its left hand and then slams it into the dirt, adjacent to the hole that Lucario left.

With FRENZY PLANT in effect, the ground suddenly rumbled with the sound of shifting earth underneath the surface. Within seconds, thick thorny roots shot out of the earth, dozens of feet in length. Lucario came out of the earth as well, coiled tightly in the neck by one of the thorny roots, having difficulty breathing yet still able to nevertheless.

Lucario attempts to break free from the roots by tearing them apart with his paws. However, he found them much tougher in structure than they seem.

As Lucario is trying to break free of FRENZY PLANT, Sceptile's stamina is replenished and it retrieves the buster sword that it left vertical on the dirt. It then rushes over to Lucario once more, with the weapon placed to its side as it ran.

Lucario, thinking quickly once more as Sceptile rushes over to his location with the buster sword brandished, manages to get the massive root over his mouth and then exhales ICY WIND to freeze it instantly. Once the roots crystallized from the cold, they were shattered with ease when Lucario tugged on them once, and then he dropped a few feet back onto the floor.

He sees Sceptile coming and only had one second to guard himself. He narrowly catches Sceptile's buster sword by raising his paws above his head, using the battle armor's gauntlets to stop Sceptile's sideways swipe.

"(Arceus-dammit, what is that armor made out of?)" Sceptile thought with gritted teeth.

"(What kind of power do you have to brandish such a weapon with only one hand?)" Lucario pondered, struggling to keep the sword away from his head.

Lucario, as he was preventing the weapon from reaching any closer to his face, pumped his body up by using BULK UP, creating a significant aura field around him. With his muscle mass increasing significantly by this technique, Lucario managed to shove the sword away. However, Sceptile didn't let go of its weapon, but it was reluctantly shoved away behind its back.

Before Sceptile could swing at the Aura Pokémon with the weapon in hand, Lucario's fists already gleamed white, and it suddenly found itself enduring blow after blow of Lucario's MACH PUNCH technique across its torso and face.

Much to Lucario's surprise, Sceptile never flinched, and swung the sword horizontally once more, much quicker than expected. Lucario quickly protected himself from the sword by bringing up his gauntlets again. Despite preventing a deep laceration on his being, he was still flung to his right side. His back slammed into a tree, knocking some of the wind out of his lungs, but not enough to be temporarily stunned.

"(Oh how predictable,)" Lucario thought negatively. "(I can't go ten feet in a straight line without crashing into a tree. They're scattered all over the…)"

A bolt of realization struck Lucario's mind when he thought of the word "tree". He recalled his experience with jungle combat and decided to use it to his advantage.

Before Sceptile could rush over and strike him with its buster sword, Lucario already used EXTREMESPEED to evade possible mutilation, leaving the Forest Pokémon to cut only wood and not flesh.

Sceptile suddenly heard the rustling of the leaves of the trees above it, and looked upward to see what was causing them.

Like a pinball, Lucario was ricocheting across the trees around Sceptile—a tactic that he used on Absol years ago, only this time he used EXTREMESPEED for greater movement.

Much to Sceptile's surprise, it couldn't pinpoint Lucario's exact location with its Aura Vision ability. The reason for this was _not_ because of Lucario's EXTREMESPEED, but because of the fact that in the middle of this discombobulating ploy, the Aura Pokémon replicated himself with DOUBLE TEAM, increasing his numbers twelve-fold. In the golden eyes of the Forest Pokémon, Lucario and his duplicates appeared as a ring of dense aura.

With twelve Lucario swerving around Sceptile, it decided to wipe them all out with one single technique. It suddenly began to channel green aura once more. Only this time, the energy assimilated the surrounding foliage, rending the thousands of leaves off of the surrounding trees. These same leaves surrounded Sceptile, swirling around him with a violent gale.

With LEAF STORM armed and ready, Sceptile discharged all of the revolving leaves through the gale, causing them to dart out at everything surrounding the user of the technique.

The leaves, despite their virtual nonexistence in terms of weight, managed to do momentous damage one fired at high speed by the gale that they were riding. The leaves penetrated the bark of the trees, as well as the Lucario doppelgangers into nothingness. The whole area surrounding Sceptile was scarred with leaves in seconds, leaving _no trace of Lucario_.

"(Where are you, Aura Pokémon…)" Sceptile thought upon sensing no trace of the Aura Pokémon in the destruction.

Sceptile suddenly hears a shifting of the earth directly below and looks down. With Aura Vision, it senses Lucario coming to resurface and attempt to clobber it from underground. With the buster sword in hand, it holds the hilt high and the blade upside-down, having the tip pointed down at Lucario.

Just as Lucario was about to resurface, Sceptile timed its reflexes right so that it brought the blade down on Lucario's head as it sprouted from the ground. The buster sword, sure enough didn't even scratch the surface of Lucario's helmet, but did in fact keep Lucario pinned onto the earth, prevented in rising up to the surface.

"Now you're mine, Aura Pokémon," Sceptile said smugly.

Lucario, despite being halted in his tracks, didn't seem all that bothered. He struggled somewhat to free his left arm, and then grinned balefully when he stretched his paw to Sceptile's face and retracted his first and third digit simultaneously—giving him the middle finger.

"Now you're pissing me off…" Sceptile rebuked at Lucario flipping him off.

Sceptile removed the sword it had on Lucario's helmet and attempted to drive it down with more force. Once it dropped the sword downward once more, it was absolutely astonished at the fact that Lucario suddenly ceased to exist.

"(…Another duplicate…?)" Sceptile thought, its sword embedding itself twelve inches into the dirt.

Lucario—the _original_—used FLY to soar above and beyond Sceptile's field of Aura Vision, knowing well enough that Sceptile was close, but never as adept as he was in using similar abilities. Once he noticed Sceptile's realization of his underground duplicate being a decoy, he descended downward, dive-bombing with FLY.

Sceptile suddenly senses Lucario descending downward from above and looks up. It catches a glimpse of the Aura Pokémon front-flipping downward, before he extends his right paw out and having it spontaneously combust in fire. Lucario was only within fifty feet of the Forest Pokémon by the time Sceptile's eyes saw him.

Sceptile has no time to react to this and simply says "Oh fu—" before he was axe kicked between the horns on its forehead, knocked unconscious by Lucario's BLAZE KICK technique, its Aura Vision ability abruptly turned off.

Once Lucario's two feet touched the dirt, Sceptile's whole body did the same. Its buster sword remained stationary in the dirt, when Sceptile stabbed the floor earlier.

_(Song Ends)_

Lucario was within kicking distance of Sceptile, but decided not to inflict further damage onto it because it would be pointless.

"(I've only been gone for a little over one year, and you're mind has deteriorated to borderline schizophrenia.)" Lucario pondered, looking at the Forest Pokémon.

Seeing how stagnant Sceptile was made him look away and at the buster sword that was lodged onto the earth. He doesn't see the sword for what it's worth, only for what it's done.

"(I've only seen one of your victims, and I don't know how many more there are.)"

Lucario, turning off his Aura Vision ability, raised his left paw and pointed its palm at the buster sword. He began to conjure an AURA SPHERE, with the intent of destroying the weapon.

"(There won't be any more once I obliterate—)"

All of a sudden, Lucario felt Sceptile's left hand grip onto his left ankle. The AURA SPHERE disappeared from his palm, gradually along with his energy.

"You've dropped your guard, Aura Pokémon. I'm not finished with you yet."

Looking down, he could see Sceptile grinning at him maliciously, using GIGA DRAIN to siphon his power and rejuvenate itself. Because the technique was advanced and the Pokémon utilizing it was proficient with it, Lucario found himself drained within seconds.

"(…Crap…)" Lucario thought before his eyes rolled back from fatigue. He collapsed onto his back and on the dirt floor, unconscious and vulnerable.

Sceptile let go of Lucario's ankle prior to his descent onto the floor, and then got back up on its two feet once it rejuvenated its energy. With PSYCHIC, it retrieves its buster sword and catches it with its left hand. It looks down on Lucario and positions the buster sword so that its tips resides inches above the Aura Pokémon's neck, never thinking once about the Lucario it recalled, because it only sees an intruder within Celadon Forest.

Sceptile raises its weapon a few feet into the air and just as it was about to drop it down on Lucario's neck…

"LUSTER PURGE!"

…it heard a voice echo across the forest. And just as quickly as the sound reverberated, a concentrated blast of light rammed into Sceptile. The Forest Pokémon, with sword in hand, was launched backwards, slamming and snapping a few trees—due to its momentum—before stopping at the fourth tree, its back slamming into the trunk.

Lucario was still unconscious, his body slowly regaining the energy that was lost in this vulnerable state of being.

"HEAL PULSE!"

However, that same voice echoed across Celadon Forest once more. And just as quickly as before, Lucario is hit by a ray of pink energy. The energy of that technique quickly gave him a brief pink aura, before it was assimilated into his body.

Lucario suddenly awakens and coils his lower body back before springing it forward, getting back up on his feet. In front of him, he sees Sceptile about one hundred feet away—as well as a few trees split in two—, with its back on a tree and the buster sword in its single hand.

He approaches the Forest Pokémon—sensing no danger from it because it's _clearly_ comatose—, discombobulated, wondering what exactly caused this to it.

Lucario hears a mature voice speak from his left side and almost flinches when he hears it.

"It's not dead, you know. I just left it cataleptic with one attack."

Lucario looks to his left side and sees a rather exotic sight. He ogles a levitating Pokémon with a streamlined, flight-intended body. It has a blue lower body and a white upper body, with a blue face that has a white circle in the center. It has two blue wings on its back, stubby—_useless_—blue feet, and foldable blue arms. It has two white upward-pointing ears, red eyes, and a red triangle pattern above its belly. Overall, it appears to be a Pokémon hybrid of a dragon and a jet, with a mostly blue and white color scheme.

_**(National Pokédex entry #381: Latios, the Eon Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and a Psychic-Type Pokémon that measures in at 6' 07" in length and 132.3 lbs in weight. It is a highly intelligent Pokémon. By folding back its wings in flight, it can overtake jet planes. Likely, it's dexterous enough to win dogfights against humans.)**_

Lucario had no clue as to what this Pokémon is and chose to utilize his battle armor in order to provide him with the information. He mentally commanded the Pokédex program to activate and analyzed the enigmatic Pokémon, which was currently observing Sceptile. The scanning was quick, albeit details were scarce on this specific Pokémon.

This concise phrase listed what the Pokémon is and what it's basically capable of.

LATIOS, THE EON POKéMON. LATIOS IS HIGHLY INTELLIGENT AND CAN FLY FASTER THAN A JET BY TUCKING IN ITS WINGS.

"(What are the odds of finding one here?)" Lucario pondered before shutting off the Pokédex program on his visor. "_Did you have any part in this?_"

"I just knocked it insensible as it was about to stab your neck with its weapon." The Eon Pokémon spoke with some haste in its voice, before turning to its right to face the Aura Pokémon. "Capture it with that Luxury Ball you have in your possession already, before it reawakens."

"_How do you know what I have on me?_"

"Let's just say that I've been watching you for some time now." Latios said without haste in its voice.

"_…For how long?_"

"Just capture the damn Forest Pokémon already!" Latios shouted impatiently. "You'll know eventually. But for now, it's not important."

Lucario, ignoring whatever frustration he may have building up within him from conversing with this Legendary Pokémon, retrieves the Luxury Ball from his possession. Eyeing Sceptile, he enlarges the Luxury Ball by pressing the button on its center.

"_Let's just get this over with,_" Lucario said, preferring not to question his reluctance in this action.

Almost robotically, Lucario threw the Luxury Ball at Sceptile's head. The sphere made contact with the Forest Pokémon, rebounded, and hovered temporarily in front of it. Sceptile quickly converted into red energy, which was then assimilated into the internal circuitry of the Luxury Ball. Its buster sword and sheath remained behind, and lied on the forest floor beside the tree.

The sphere dropped onto the floor once it was engorged with Sceptile's essence and began to rattle a few times on the floor, its button flashing red as it swayed side to side. Seconds passed before the Luxury Ball subsided its movement altogether, its button light turning off. A futuristic locking sound was audible for one second.

* * *

><p><em><span>17.3: Mental Reprise<span>_

Time: 4:03 PM

The Luxury Ball is thrown once more, into the air. It opens up and expels the red energy it has within. From that same energy, Sceptile rematerializes on both of its feet. It is temporarily in a daze, its vision temporarily blurred from the sudden exposure to the bright light of the forest.

Once Sceptile's vision readjusts after a few seconds, it sees Lucario standing before it, without his battle armor and possessions on. Sceptile automatically put its left arm behind its back to retrieve its buster sword, only to perceive that all it was gripping is air.

"Ahem," Latios clears its throat to get the Forest Pokémon's attention.

Sceptile sees that to its right side, three Pokémon were present, as well as its and Lucario's attachments—his battle armor, the Expert Belt, the Friend Ball and the Ultra Ball within a belt intended to store up to ten Poké Balls. It sees its buster sword sheathed, its tip lodged into the dirt. It sees Lucario's battle armor placed tidily in a pile in front of its sword.

Perched on the hilt of the buster sword, Latios had its hands on the weapon. On each of Latios's wings, Beldum and Torchic—informed earlier of Sceptile—were present. All three of them eyed Sceptile closely, watching its every move. Latios was ready to act in defense if necessary.

Sceptile set its arm aside and looked back at Lucario. Only this time, it paid more attention to the Aura Pokémon. In doing so, it noticed Lucario's current facial countenance: melancholy and sober.

"_You endured a heavy loss after losing Tiny, one of your best friends, your left arm,_" Lucario began to summarize Sceptile's life after Lucario's absence, "_as well as both Wanderer and I, whom were captured by humans—Team Rocket to be specific—and enslaved into doing their heartless acts of Pokémon brutality._"

"(…Team Rocket?)" Sceptile had these two words resonate within its mind.

"_Heartbroken to the point of mental instability, you decided to rampage Celadon Forest with a buster sword that you acquired from the forgotten cargo of a traveling blacksmith, driving out all of the populace in the process._"

"(…Celadon Forest?)" Sceptile had these two words resonate within its mind.

"_And ever since then, you hunt down anyone—human _or_ Pokémon—intruding upon your self-claimed territory._"

"…" Sceptile begins to recall its life as Lucario described it. It recalls what happened over the past year: the loss of Tiny and its left arm, the abduction of both Lucario and Wanderer, its obtainment of its buster sword, and the rampage across the forest.

Its eyes begin to water at how emotionally difficult that time was for it.

Lucario senses Sceptile's mental recollection, how it's reacting emotionally to its actions and experiences during the time of his absence from Celadon Forest. Tears began to form in his eyes as well, from the happiness of returning to his forest home and seeing a friend that he believed to have perished over a year ago.

Lucario spreads his arms out and says "_Do you need a hug?_"

Sure enough Lucario is quickly—albeit _carefully_ due to his protruding chest spike hazard—embraced by the Forest Pokémon, whom begins to bawl uncontrollably behind his back. Lucario remains silent during this, crying and sniffling somewhat over the pain of the loss of Tiny, putting his arms on Sceptile's back as well. He found it easier to do so, since Sceptile's bulbous seed-like nodules were plucked off earlier.

Beldum, Latios, and Torchic watched on at this from the sidelines, and Latios was growing somewhat impatient, especially since it had to do something else here.

"(I wonder how much longer this tearjerker is going to last?)" Latios thought with impatience.

* * *

><p>"When you don't understand the consequences of your acts, how can you be blamed for them?" —Orson Scott Card (570) ("<em><span>Xenocide<span>_")

* * *

><p>...<p>

...

...I know what you're thinking.

You're speculating that because I put Latios into my story, I'd do the same to its fellow red counterpart.

...

...

...You're DAMN right I'm adding the other Eon Pokémon! You can't have one without the other!

That's actually what my next chapter focuses on. However, it's not just Latias that comes into play. Someone else comes in as well.

Someone...very important in Xeno Lucario's past.


	18. Chapter XII (12)

Hit Count: 2,709

I stayed away from this longer than necessary, because I deliberately delayed updating these next two chapters and adding them to my growing story. But before going on, I just want to make one thing clear.

I prefer _not_ to delay my work. In fact, I prefer not to do it at all. I only did so because it slipped my mind that August 31st was the day where I started this story and uploaded the first chapter to "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_". I thought it appropriate to submit my next two chapters on the same date where my story turns one year old, because I wouldn't be able to repeat this feat. So, just to let you all know, the vague date of time that I place for my next updates are to be believed and will almost never change.

I say "almost never" because no one can account for every single situation in their personal life, such as when I was _hospitalized _and_ had surgery_ for a spontaneous pneumothorax.

During that time, I grew honestly surprised at how well my story is growing in the attention of my fellow readers. In one year, I've earned 2,709 hits total, to _all_ of the chapters of my story. And if averaged out by the amount of days of the year, that equates to about 7.42 hits per day (or 7.4 if I add February 29th to 365 days). Alongside that, according to my General User Stats, my Profile page has been accessed 156 times. And, according to my Legacy Story Stats, I've had nine users add my story on their favorite list (I won't say who because you nine know who you are, and I thank you sincerely for your choice).

In terms of reviews, I've had 17 total over the last year. I honestly hope that grows over time, but only if I offer my support as well to the stories that my fellow readers write as well. After all, you're scratching my back with those honest reviews, but I've yet to do the same. One can only do so much in so little time unfortunately.

So, in the start of the second year of my evolving hobby of FanFiction, I need to create a couple of resolutions for myself.

1. I need to support my fellow readers by reading _their_ storiesas often as my free time will allow me, and review them with my honest opinion.

2. I need to improve the speed at which I'm able to write new chapters, because I feel as though I'm a slow (but _sophisticated_) writer.

These two goals shouldn't be so hard of me to achieve, so long as I work alongside time and not _against_ it.

But anyway, I've digressed enough and shouldn't keep any of you waiting any longer, unless you've just skipped this introduction entirely and just read what I've written without hearing my overall thoughts (not that I'd be able to know).

Within this chapter, as the summary of my story states, Xeno Lucario meets up with a former enemy, changed for the better. Perhaps you figured out who I'm referring to and kept it to yourself, or don't care and just want to go with my story flow. No new songs for this chapter, and no updates to my profile to reflect anything occurring (aside from the usual Table of Contents part).

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XII (12): Former Enemy<strong>

_Thirty minutes later…_

Location: Celadon Forest (Core)

Time: 4:33 PM

"(Ugh, finally you're both done embracing each other.)" Latios thought, once it saw both Lucario and Sceptile divide after their hug.

Both Lucario and Sceptile, having cried for the entire time, simply wiped away whatever tears remained in their eyes, having mourned enough over the loss of Tiny.

Impatient and loosely in control of itself, Latios quickly hovers over to Lucario—toppling over both the Beldum and Torchic that stood on top of the tips of each of its wings—and looks at him square in the face, with a harsh scowl on its own.

"I've shown enough patience in my part to have to wait for you to finish your hug." Latios growled. "Now it's your turn. I want you, and your friends, to _wait here_ for me. I have to go retrieve something important."

"_…Like what?_" Lucario said out of curiosity, with a mild blend of distaste at Latios's agitation.

Latios pondered a bit on how to say this to the Aura Pokémon without spoiling the surprise. Once it had the right words to say, the Eon Pokémon simply said, with a solemn tone in its voice, "Someone from your distant past."

"_Such as?_" Lucario replied to its vague statement.

Latios, feeling as if its paper-thin patience was already worn away, quickly folded its arms into its body and shot thousands of feet upward into the air, before breaking the sound barrier with a sonic boom and flying away at Mach 1.

Lucario, ignoring the ringing of his ears that the loud snap of air that resulted from Latios's speed, pondered what the Eon Pokémon could've meant by its allusion.

Sceptile, as it was pondering this over, retrieved its alienated buster sword that Latios stood on top of earlier—already sheathed within its scabbard—and strapped it back onto its backside with only its left arm. Both Beldum and Torchic, grumbling somewhat at how quickly Latios set them both aside, got back up on their feet and dusted themselves off, never using their hands or anything that _remotely_ resembles hands in the process.

"_'Someone from your distant past'…_" Lucario mumbled these words and had them resonate within his head.

Both Beldum and Torchic, watching on at both of these fully-evolved Pokémon, eventually saw their eyes widen upon the realization of what Latios meant. Their bodies went limp after their eyes opened wide, their bodies rendered numb when their minds replayed this taboo name over and over within their heads, alongside the grim actions that the entity in _possession_ of this name performed.

"Absol…" Lucario and Sceptile said in unison—only Sceptile mouthed the words while the Aura Pokémon used telepathy.

"Absol…?" Torchic said with its head tilted to its side.

"_Who is this 'Absol'?_" Beldum inquired.

Lucario, once he drained his mind of the surplus memories of Absol, said "_It is only the most genocidal Pokémon that I've ever encountered,_" with a grave tone in his telepathy.

"Absol, the one that Lucario and I know too well, is a borderline schizophrenic, a Disaster Pokémon who deeply grows euphoric on the thought of fighting to the death." Sceptile joined in, speaking soberly as well.

"_It has made a twisted passion of exterminating every single Riolu and Lucario that it encounters, out of personal revenge._"

"All because it lost its family to their species…"

"…_Over a simple dispute of territory._"

"It almost _killed_ Lucario on two occasions."

"_Hours after I was born into this world as a Riolu, and thirty months later when I evolved and grew more experienced in my abilities._"

"What a monstrosity…" Sceptile shook its head, its eyes closed and its solitary left hand covering its face.

"_Indeed._" Lucario closed his eyes and crossed his arms, his head tilted down and shaking slightly.

After hearing Lucario and Sceptile trade truthful comments in tandem, Beldum immediately understood what kind of a malicious incarnate Absol was.

"_My Arceus…_" It said, its spherical head rotating down to the floor.

"I still don't see the big picture," Torchic said, naïve at comprehending the mental picture that both Lucario and Sceptile painted for it with their clear words.

Upon hearing this, Sceptile approaches the Chick Pokémon and looks down on it, at a Pokémon that barely reached its knees in terms of height, despite the crest of feathers on Torchic's head that added a couple of inches on it. The Forest Pokémon quickly unsheathes its buster sword and points its tip directly at Torchic's forehead. Beldum and Lucario watched on at this with cynicism at its unorthodox modus operandi.

"I'll put it in your perspective, Chick Pokémon." Sceptile began to hiss at it. "I will kill _every_ Torchic, Combusken, and Blaziken that I encounter…all because _one_ of them burned my tree house down, regardless if it was deliberate or accidental."

"(Even though one never actually did do so…)" Lucario trailed off in thought, recalling flawlessly that when Sceptile's house burned down, it was due to the fires that were produced from four Growlithe, four Magmar, four Houndoom, two Arcanine, and two Magmortar, all under the iron-fisted authority of Team Rocket.

Torchic, showing no fear to Sceptile's tactics, quickly comprehended its words and casually said "Okay, you've made your point, with your _words_ thankfully and not your massive sword."

Sceptile, having made its (allegorical) point, enclosed its buster sword within its scabbard and stepped back from Torchic.

"_Sceptile, may I say something to you?_" Lucario inquired.

"You might as well," The Forest Pokémon responded casually.

"_Can you make examples that _don't_ involve detrimental intentions?_"

"Oh, sue me!" It said bluntly while rolling its eyes. "I've been living a solitary and emotionally _painful_ life for the past year! What the hell have I _talked_ to during that time that could help me keep my conversational skills from falling apart?!"

Lucario rolled his eyes as well and decided to focus on more pressing matters, matters involving a certain Disaster Pokémon that Latios was transporting towards them.

"_All this time, I thought it was dead,_" Lucario muttered. "_I thought that the last moments of its life that I witnessed were its descent into the foliage hundreds of feet below that cliff side at Celadon Forest, before I blacked out from fatigue. And yet, here it comes, on its way over._"

"_It would be a wise choice to don your battle armor now, don't you think?_" Beldum suggested.

Lucario simply nodded at the Iron Ball Pokémon, and proceeded over to where all of his equipment resided—his battle armor, Expert Belt, and Poké Ball utility belt, the latter of which contained the respective Poké Balls of all of his friends, including those of Beldum, Sceptile, and Torchic.

"That would be wise, Lucario. We can never be too sure of what that Disaster Pokémon might do," Sceptile said. "And if I sense even the _slightest_ hostile intentions from that demonic Pokémon, directed onto _any_ of us four, I won't hesitate to cleave it in half with one stalwart swoop of my blade."

"When do you think Latios will return?" Torchic inquired.

"_I have no idea,_" Lucario said before retrieving his two belts and putting them on, one as a sash (Expert Belt) and the other as a belt (Poké Ball utility belt). Then, he began to strap the battle armor onto himself, one piece at a time, physically rather than telekinetically, making sure everything was securely placed. "_For all I know, Absol is halfway across the world, and Latios will have to travel that far in a short amount of time to retrieve it._"

"To pass the time," Sceptile recommended. "You should tell us about your time in Team Rocket, as emotionally mixed you might be of it. I'm longing to know what you and Wanderer have been doing without me."

Lucario felt mildly unenthusiastic about sharing his experience in Team Rocket because he despises the organization with great intensity. However, he didn't want to deny Sceptile's rights in knowing what he and Wanderer have been doing, and explaining his and Wanderer's story to Sceptile would prove effective in killing time.

Lucario held onto the helmet of his battle armor by wrapping his left arm around it and holding it to his left side. "_Alright then, I'll start from the beginning._"

* * *

><p><em><span>18.1: Healing Battle Wounds<span>_

_Sixteen Years Ago…_

Absol the Disaster Pokémon, after having the bones of its face shatter from Lucario's last attack and falling unconscious, fell off of Celadon Forest's Cliffside and bypassed the shrouding trees below, disappearing from the view of anybody residing above due to the thick foliage of the forest.

Because of the waterfall that resided _adjacent_ to the Cliffside, the water that fell below formed a significant body of water, one that Absol inadvertently fell into and (broken) face first for that matter.

The lake water that was dumped from above traveled to the outer boundaries of the forest through a running river. Absol, unconscious and hardly afloat with its shattered and bloody face above the water's surface, was carried by this river for miles, unrestrained and easily guided, leaving behind a sanguine trail in the water.

This Disaster Pokémon, barely alive after its horrific battle injuries—missing blade-like appendage, missing left eye, broken bones in both body _and_ face, lacerations, bruises, etc—was dumped into a minute pond, surrounded by individual grounded stones and damp, softened rocks.

Whatever momentum that Absol had transferred into its limp body allowed its upper body to be placed on this stone shoreline, allowing it to actually _breathe_ feebly without any further aquatic interference, for as long as blood and a heartbeat remained within its body, as faint as they've both quickly become.

The shadow of a nearby flying Pokémon hovered nearby, before landing adjacent to the Disaster Pokémon. With its hands, and without a second thought on the subject, it gripped Absol's paws and dragged Absol's broken body out of the water entirely, its blood no longer wasting away and allowed to coalesce.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Celadon Forest (Pond)<span>

Absol eventually regained consciousness, immediately feeling that its body was placed over a field of eroded gravel, with some of it pressing against his belly and paw pads. Its body was wet from the water, but it didn't care about that at the moment. It wanted to know more about what was around its surroundings first, and couldn't do so until it could see them.

It opened its remaining right eye, and much to its surprise, immediately saw a Pokémon hovering upside-down, directly in front of its face, staring at it with statue-like stillness.

The Pokémon was mostly red and white in color, resembling a biological cross between a dragon and a jet. It had a white upper body, and a red lower body, with a red forehead and a white patch on top of said forehead, and upward-pointing white ears. It had red arms, capable of folding into its body, as well as a stubby red tail, with red legs that served very little purpose. It possessed golden eyes—which gleamed eerily similar to Lucario's eyes when he's utilizing his Aura Vision ability. Finally, between its arms and residing above its belly, it possessed a blue triangle pattern on the down that coated its entire body.

The Pokémon—according to Absol's experience—is a Latias.

_**(National Pokédex entry #380: Latias, the Eon Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and Psychic-Type Pokémon that measures in at 4' 07" and weighs approximately 88.2 lbs. Its body is covered with a down that can refract light in such a way that it becomes invisible. This ability is useless on Pokémon that can see via **_**other**_** methods.)**_

"What in the—" Absol said before its cheeks were suddenly grabbed by this Pokémon's stubby hands, forcing it to lock eyes with this Eon Pokémon.

"I can't believe I managed to fix your body back to normal, your face included," Latias said almost nonchalantly, "especially since I didn't have much left on it to actually _work_ with, what with your missing left eye, mutilated crescent-shaped horn on your head, and your nonexistent lips. I'm truly surprised that your face hasn't sustained any permanent alterations."

"Wait, what…?" Absol said, barely catching Latias mentioning the current state of its face.

Latias simply continued to prattle, angling Absol's face to its left and right sides, eyeing each and every one of its exposed teeth, all of them rendered completely visible. "My Arceus, what big teeth you have! The better to eat me with, I assume? No, but I taste terrible. And I should know because I've tried."

Absol, seeing itself going nowhere with this path, broke itself free of Latias's grasp and proceeded over to the pond of water.

"But what if I was cooked into something more appetizing, like pie? Oh, I _love_ pie, all kinds of pie." Latias nattered to itself, digressed in topic.

Once at the pond, Absol could clearly see its reflection in the water, and was able to see just what kind of damage it had sustained. As Latias mentioned earlier—before drifting off in speech relating to a man-made dish—Absol's face was actually repaired, despite the hammer dropped on its face that was Lucario's fist.

Unfortunately, as Latias _also_ mentioned, Absol was missing its blade-like appendage—"horn", as Latias called it—, left eye, and the entirety of its lips.

The cause of this didn't take long to recall before Absol knew it all too well.

* * *

><p>(Absol's First Flashback)<p>

_ "_…**DEALT TO YOU BY MY CLAW!**_" Absol brought down its arm so fast that the air around it snapped at the sudden alteration._

_ The _entire_ throng of Pokémon cringed at what might occur. Most of the younger Pokémon covered their eyes, and only the more valiant ones didn't, such as the group of Riolu._

_ "(Come on…Come on already.)" Tiny and Sceptile thought closely to that same sentence._

_ The mountain-dwelling Lucario smirked at what it _knew_ will occur next._

_ "(And…NOW!)" Lucario waited at the last possible millisecond to react._

_ Instantly, his mouth snapped shut and he rolled out of the way, just before the SHADOW CLAW attack sliced through the rock-hard ground like a hot knife to butter, where his _neck_ once was._

_ Before Absol could react—or perhaps _over_react—, Lucario immediately began spinning on the ground with the expertise of a break dancer. And once he acquired sufficient gyrating momentum, he extended one leg out and instantly made contact with Absol's face—or to be more precise, _Absol's left eye_! The kick was so stalwart and devastating that Absol's eye immediately _exploded_ in a biological detonation, just before the rest of the Disaster Pokémon was sent flying towards the edge of the cliff._

* * *

><p>(Absol's Second Flashback)<p>

_ "_Are you even trying?_" Lucario said before tilting his head left to avoid one paw with ease and then ducking to avoid a head-aimed horizontal swipe that just missed Lucario's ears. "_If you keep attacking without reasoning…_"_

_ Lucario caught Absol's right paw with a sudden grab at its wrist using his left paw._

_ Absol became more enraged and tried to slash at Lucario with the other paw, only to have it caught by Lucario's right paw, gripped tightly by the wrist._

_ "_…Then you'll recklessness will become predictable to your opponent…_"_

_ Lucario then shoved off Absol's left paw and turned around to the point of being behind it, so that Absol couldn't reach with the other paw. Still holding onto Absol's right paw with his left paw, he quickly switched paws before restraining the Disaster Pokémon with a chokehold._

_ "_…and allow them to deliver a devastating counterattack!_"_

_ Immediately after speaking, he brought Absol's entire right arm behind him in one quick jerk, easily dislocating Absol's right shoulder—and earning an ear-shattering scream of pain in the process. Now with Absol's right arm completely limp, and _still_ retaining the SHADOW CLAW attack, he easily brought it to Absol's blade-like appendage/right ear and mutilated it with one swipe._

* * *

><p>(Absol's Third Flashback)<p>

_ "_I've already said so,_" Lucario brought his left arm back as high as he could, as if wanting to put all that he currently has left in one final attack. "_I have more of a purpose and the willpower to support it than you'll ever have._"_

_ Knowing this was his final attack that'll decide who's victorious, Lucario brought his fist down upon Absol's face, having a much more directed explosion aimed perfectly at its face and not onto him like before, delivering a stalwart punch that easily _imploded_ Absol's snout and jaw, as well as rendering any form of recognition of this Disaster Pokémon impossible._

_ Absol only heard the sound of a gale storm in its remaining ear before hearing the sound of rushing air. It felt so much pain on its face, as if a boulder was dropped onto it, but it could care less, because now it knew for a fact that it was falling off of the cliff._

_ "(…I'm…finished…)" It thought briefly, accepting its fate before falling to the trees below._

* * *

><p>(End of Absol's Flashbacks)<p>

Holding in whatever expletives that it could think of to describe its archenemy Aura Pokémon, it turned back to the Eon Pokémon, with this question in mind. "How did you cure me of my injuries?"

Latias—much to Absol's relief—stopped talking about quiche and heard Absol's question. It hovered over to the Disaster Pokémon and gave it the same open-eyed stare that it did earlier, where its face was close enough to breathe over the other one, only it wasn't upside-down this time.

Once it was disturbingly close and face-to-face, it quickly brought up its right hand and casually _slashed_ at Absol's face with DRAGON CLAW. Just as quickly, and before Absol reacted in pain—or in spite—, Latias used its left hand to cast HEAL PULSE on the wound, healing it in an instant.

Absol quickly reacted to the pain and expelled a few choice expletives before rubbing its face with its paw, wiping away whatever blood seeped out of its wounds—which was none, much to its expectations once it saw its paw.

"So…_this_ is how you repay me for saving your life," Latias temporarily squinted its eyes negatively at the Disaster Pokémon. "By calling me a few choice words because you can't suck up the pain."

"I don't care about that!" Absol said rudely before looking back at the Celadon Forest Cliffside and proceeding to walk towards it.

"Where are you going?" Latias said when Absol turned its back on it.

"If you must know," Absol never looking back and continuing onward, "I have some unfinished business up there at that cliff, with a certain _Pokémon_ that ruined my face."

"Are you talking about that dark-furred Lucario?"

Absol's tail twitched slightly before its whole body stopped in response to Latias's knowledge. Its right eye widened moderately before it turned around and faced Latias, returning towards the Eon Pokémon. "How do you know about it?" It questioned, its lack of lips not hindering its ability to speak at all.

"Let's just say that I've been watching you for some time," Latias says vaguely, and with an honest expression, "often behind your back, and other times, right up at your face."

"…How?" It said with a blend of curiosity and skepticism, before sitting down, its attention clearly in Latias's hands.

The Eon Pokémon, with a smile, shows its arms at Absol, emulating the hand gestures of a magician. "Nothing up my sleeve—not that I wear any—and… Abra Kadabra!"

Before Absol's remaining left eye, Latias _completely_ vanished from view. However it showed no interest in this parlor trick and simply opened its mouth wide and yawned out of boredom, which doesn't appear to be a yawn at first because of its missing lips and exposed set of teeth.

"I have this innate ability where I can enfold my body with a glass-like down, and in doing so, I can become invisible in an instant." Latias's voice was audible in front of Absol, one of few signs of its retained presence here.

"I'm not impressed," Absol bluntly said, "especially since I can _smell_ you from this distance."

A few seconds went by where Latias said nothing, and through that temporary pause, Latias shifted tactics. "Okay, how about this? Through this same method, I can also alter my _visual_ appearance."

Absol showed _partial_ curiosity to this. "Give me an example." It said with starved enthusiasm.

Before Absol's remaining right eye, it saw Latias reemerge, only as a different Pokémon entirely. To put it simply, it reemerged as a Lucario, the _exact_ same dark-furred individual that Absol indubitably despises. It even replicated Lucario's serious facial countenance, and had its arms crossed as well.

Absol didn't like this example one bit, and immediately charged towards Lucario (Latias) out of vindictiveness.

Lucario (Latias) simply saw Absol coming and didn't budge an inch when it decided to retaliate. With powerful psychic abilities, Lucario (Latias) had some of the down it mention shed off of its skin. It then concentrated it into a large white sphere, directly in front of itself. When Absol pounced and was within swiping distance, Lucario (Latias) had the sphere fire bits of itself forward, disintegrating itself in the form of down-like bullets.

Absol, despite its body taking Lucario's (Latias's) MIST BALL attack pointblank, was only knocked back by the impact of the attack, because of its Dark-Type attribute nullifying all Psychic-Type attacks from effectively dealing damage.

Lucario (Latias) reverted back to normal in a split-second and uncrossed its arms. "Why do you hate that Lucario so much?" It said out of sizeable curiosity.

Absol stood still after Latias's visual reversion. "It's not just that dark-furred Lucario. It's the whole _species_ Lucario. I lost my family to them, over a simple dispute over territory, and for that I must take vengeance on each and every Riolu and Lucario that I possibly can."

Latias, after hearing Absol's reasons, simply closed its eyes, bowed down somewhat, and shook its head. "Absol, Absol, Absol… You need to let this pain go."

"There's no pain in what I do." Absol automatically said, denying Latias's judgment.

"Of course there is," Latias spoke with more concern. "The pain just hasn't dug itself deep within you yet."

"I don't believe you."

Latias paused once more to think, and resumed with a different tactic in mind.

"Absol, what is your purpose in life?"

The word "purpose" immediately made Absol recall Lucario's reference of purpose earlier.

* * *

><p>(Absol's Flashback)<p>

_ "_Your goal is to murder relentlessly at the Pokémon species that have brought you sorrow, while my goal is to kill you, to prevent that from happening any further,_" Lucario was within forty feet of reaching it._

_ "…Shut up…" It muttered spitefully at Lucario's words._

"The only difference between our goals is purpose and willpower."

_ "…I said…shut up…you Arceus-damn bitch…" It spoke feebly, far too much in pain to shout._

_ "_You're lacking in _both_ of those factors!_" He was now within twenty feet of it._

* * *

><p>(End of Absol's Flashback)<p>

"(You're verbally dissecting me just like that Lucario did…)" Absol pondered briefly.

"Answer my question," Latias reminded the Disaster Pokémon.

"…To seek vengeance on—"

"That path will only lead to your inevitable oblivion."

"…Well, since you have my attention," Absol gave up, sat down, and stared on at the Eon Pokémon, "I'll listen to what you have to say."

Latias shared with Absol its words of wisdom. "You're so single-mindedly focused on this 'goal' of yours that you've neglected virtually everything else that matters in life."

"Like what?"

"To name a few:" Latias held out its hands and counted each example with its fingers, "friendship, legacy, love, role model…"

Absol scoffed at the stupidity of this to it and turned its back on Latias again, proceeding to the cliff once more.

Latias froze briefly, spontaneously thinking "(So I'm not good enough for you?)" when it recalled mentioning "love" seconds ago.

Absol is quickly intercepted by Latias when it hovered in front of its face again, forcing it to stand still.

"You know, you should really show more concern to 'role model'."

"And why should I?" Absol said, not caring at all about what archetype it could leave behind.

"Pokémon will _only_ see you for your actions and not your motives behind it, _especially_ if you had died earlier, which you most likely _would_ have if I didn't drag your wet, white ass out of the water."

Absol's eye widened somewhat at this, at the fact that Latias's recent actions hung Absol's life in the balance.

"Pokémon would talk about a genocidal Disaster Pokémon that was hell-bent on exterminating every last Riolu and Lucario in existence. They _wouldn't_ see you avenging your beloved, even if you killed the ones responsible already. Lucario clearly doesn't, its friends don't see the big picture, and _I_ don't either. All that they—and I—would know about you, especially if you died, is that you attempted to drive an _already scarce_ species of Pokémon to extinction. They would hate you for that. And at the end of your life, you would be alone and spited for your actions. And I don't think Arceus in high Heaven would think twice of letting you into Its kingdom because of this. You'd most likely reside in Hell, left to burn in damnation for all eternity."

"…" Absol pondered heavily on this topic, the words "especially if you had died earlier" resonating stalwartly within its thoughts. It sat down to comprehend these words that shook it to the core.

Latias crossed its arms once more, turning its head at Absol and showing a displeasured countenance. "I could've chosen to _not_ heal you. I could've just let you die in the pond, your blood wasting away in the water."

"…Then why did you?" Absol said, showing far more respect to the Eon Pokémon. "Why did you save my life?"

Latias looked back at Absol and uncrossed its arms. "For starters, I believe in second chances. And so does my brother Latios, but that's beside the point."

Latias approached the Disaster Pokémon, extended one arm out towards it, and began to _fondle_ Absol on the top of its head. Absol, much to its surprise, was showing signs of _happiness_. That happiness was physically known to Latias when Absol's tail wagged side-to-side rhythmically.

"I figured that you could use a second chance in life, as well as a friend." Latias removed its hand from Absol's head, and the tail wagging from Absol stopped alongside this. "All the time that I was watching you without blowing my cover, I've noticed that you lack a companion in life, someone to hang out with, to converse with, and to travel alongside with."

Absol was almost tempted to ask Latias to stroke its head it once more, but remained silent and attentive.

"With this second chance in life, you should use it wisely." Latias said before looking up at the sky and trailing off in thought. "Especially for what awaits in the not-too-distant future," It muttered these words under its breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Absol's sensitive hearing with its remaining left ear picked up Latias's words.

"Huh? Oh, nothing," Latias shook the topic aside. "It's nothing important right now."

Absol set aside Latias's last topic as well, and decided to look back at Celadon Forest's Cliffside, with this to think:

"(Perhaps we'll meet again in time, gallant Aura Pokémon.)"

All of a sudden, Absol feels two hands press against the sides of its ribcage. Sure enough, they were Latias's hands, and it was hovering just above its back, its head directly above Absol's head.

"Thank you for flying Eon Airlines," Latias began to imitate a flight attendant. "Please keep all physical limbs, digits, and personal possessions within yourself as we prepare for flight."

"(…Flight?)" Absol thought moments before its feet no longer touched the ground.

Latias, with the Disaster Pokémon in hand, hovered thousands of feet high above the ground. Absol, before growing nauseated at the dizzying height that Latias acquired in such a short time, had this to inquire.

"Where are we going?"

"Throughout my travels, I've paid attention to hundreds of locales worldwide. We're going to stop by a few cemeteries: Kanto's Pokémon Tower, Hoenn's Mt. Pyre, Sinnoh's Lost Tower, and Unova's Dragonspiral Tower."

"…To pay the respects for those that I've killed, right?"

"That way, we can begin your second chance in life."

In an instant, Latias bent back its wings and tucked in its arms as best that it could—without letting go of Absol in the process—before flying off to the Pokémon Tower at triple-digit speeds.

Minutes within the flight, Latias looks down to check on Absol and notices that it's vomiting straight down due to motion sickness, never having traveled at such high speeds before, and finding its body adjusting to this with great difficulty.

"(Already purging your inner evil, aren't you?)"

* * *

><p><em><span>18.2: Second Chance<span>_

Location: Celadon Forest (Core)

Time: 4:54 PM

Lucario—with his battle armor, Expert Belt, and loaded Poké Ball utility belt strapped onto his being, and his battle armor helmet carried to his left side—was about to conclude its story of working in Team Rocket.

"_And after Giovanni became frozen stiff by my SHEER COLD technique, I escaped Team Rocket Main Headquarters, unrestrained by any further encumbrances. Whether he survived or not after my departure is beyond my acumen. However, I believe that his newfound flaring spite towards me might keep him alive afterwards, rendering my technique inflicted on him as nothing more than to guarantee my escape. And if he comes back and shows his sorry posh ass to me once more, I won't hesitate to kill him where he stands, crippling his organization simultaneously._"

Sceptile was the first to speak up once Lucario concluded.

"My Arceus… Never in my wildest dreams would I fathom what you and Wanderer have both been through over the past year."

"_I'm ashamed to say that at specific times, I was gradually growing accustomed to some parts of my job,_" Lucario admitted. "_One of those parts being my new name._"

"So where do you suppose Mewtwo is?" Sceptile said, being quick on the draw at changing the subject matter.

"_I don't know…_" Lucario shook his head momentarily. "_All that I know is that it'll find me, when it accomplishes its goals, with whatever elaborate plan it might contemplate._"

"So then…" Sceptile changed topics again. "Should I call you Xeno, Lucario, or _Xeno_ Lucario?"

"_In all honesty, whatever you feel like,_" Lucario said almost automatically, not caring anymore that it was _Giovanni_ that gave him the nickname "Xeno".

"_Might I ask you to bring up your colleagues again?_" Beldum asked politely to Lucario. "_When the time comes for our regrouping, it would be best to accustom ourselves to them sooner rather than later._"

"_Alright then,_" Lucario recalled all of the nine Pokémon that he worked with during his career in Team Rocket, and then simplified their quintessence. "_Aqua is very gentle in nature, albeit does turn sour under certain conditions._"

"(The rose with thorns…)" Torchic pondered the first words that it believed best described Lucario's colleagues.

"_Charmeleon has plenty of martial potential, albeit is primarily pacifistic._"

"(The disarmed weapon…)"

"_Dusknoir is sagacious, and skilled in offensive evasion._"

"(The recurring trap…)"

"_Mewtwo is an ocean of wisdom, as well as a cosmos of secrets._"

"(The omnipotence of the mind…)"

"_Lairon is calm, concise, and a living bulwark._"

"(The strong, silent type…)"

"_Luxray is proud and prideful, unless bested with ease._"

"(The glass cannon…)"

"_Terra is experienced and forgiving._"

"(The pensive sword…)"

"_Tyranitar is a self-centered juggernaut of extremism and power._"

"(An F-bomb on a hair trigger…)"

"_And Wanderer is a protective shield of righteousness and socialism._"

"(The reliable champion…)"

Sceptile bothered looking up at the sky and noticed a figure appearing out of the blue. Sure enough, it was Latios, whom paused when hovering directly above them, thousands of feet in the air.

"Latios is back," Sceptile said with its yellow eyes locked onto the Eon Pokémon.

Latios, once it noticed that it was directly above the group of Pokémon, descended downward until it was amongst them.

"I'm back," It said simply, almost unnecessarily, before looking to Lucario. "My sister is on its way over, with a passenger, that 'someone from your' past that I mentioned earlier."

"You mean Absol?" Sceptile said in an instant.

"Oh _good_, you figured it out already. I figured that I'd have to repeat myself again in case you all didn't realize who I was referring to already." Latios said with an inflated tone of relief, alongside a tone of voice that degraded the intelligence of the Pokémon that Latios was conversing with.

"…" Beldum, Sceptile, and Torchic took Latios's behavior as a shrouded insult, concealed by impatience and reluctance in wasting time.

Lucario, disregarding Latios's behavior entirely, placed his helmet securely on his head and decided to examine his battle armor's installed Pokédex software through his helmet's visor, for data on the sister Pokémon of the blue Eon Pokémon.

Sure enough, a brief database emerged, with only this concise set phrase.

LATIAS, THE EON POKÉMON. IT CAN TELEPATHICALLY COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE. IT CHANGES ITS APPEARANCE USING ITS DOWN THAT REFRACTS LIGHT.

"(What are the odds of meeting such elusive Pokémon on the same day?)" Lucario trailed off in thought as he closed the Pokédex program.

Sceptile looks back up at the sky and sees another figure thousands of feet in the air. Looking at the figure more closely with its acute vision, the Forest Pokémon immediately puts its left hand on the hilt of its buster sword. "They're here, Xeno."

Every other Pokémon in the group looked up to notice Latias descending with Absol clutched tightly in its arms.

Lucario, having not seen Absol for over sixteen years, can still recall in vivid detail what kind of a Pokémon it was. And as he ogled at Absol's and Latias's descent, he notices that the only difference between the Absol of his distant past and the Absol of the immediate present was a plain black bandana, tied around the Disaster Pokémon's mouth and muzzle. Also, what he mutilated from it those sixteen years ago—Absol's blade-like appendage and left eye—remained as so.

Lucario immediately utilizes his Aura Vision ability to see past the black bandana on Absol's face, and catches a glimpse of what resides behind. Smiling to himself, he turned off his sixth sense and ponders "(I'm glad I left those lasting injuries on it)" when he notices that Absol's lips are _completely_ nonexistent on its face.

All of the Pokémon—much to their surprise—step back to allow both Absol and Latias to land. Absol placed all four of its paws on the ground upon reaching it, and Latias removed its grip on the sides of Absol's ribcage before hovering over to its brother Latios.

Absol saw all of the Pokémon around it, paying little attention to Beldum, Latias, Latios, and Torchic, and paying _more_ attention to both Sceptile and Lucario, being Pokémon that it recalled from its past.

Absol and Sceptile temporarily locked eyes. Sceptile's grip on its weapon was unyielding, knowing well enough what kind of a connection the Disaster Pokémon has with Lucario, and willing to cleave it down the middle if it made any antagonistic moves. The Forest Pokémon's facial expression revealed as much.

"(I can see what that sword is making up for,)" Absol pondered while looking at what little remained of Sceptile's right arm, completely oblivious as to the events that led to Sceptile's mutilation and horrific thermal scarring.

Disregarding Sceptile at the moment, Absol turned its head to see Lucario once more, instantly eyeing the battle armor that he has placed all around his body.

"Where in the world did you obtain that armor from?" Absol inquired out of pure curiosity, showing no signs of hatred to its former enemy.

Lucario remained silent and staid, crossing his arms at his former enemy, never looking away.

Disregarding its previous question, Absol spoke what was more important, if it wanted to begin to establish a friendship with the Aura Pokémon.

"I'm sure that, before my arrival here, you must've still had any lingering negative emotions of me…"

"…" Lucario listened, unmoved in stature.

"…All fueled by memories of my past actions towards you, and to any other Riolu and Lucario that I've encountered."

Inconspicuously, and for a split-second, Lucario's paws curled up into fists, and his canine-like teeth were partially exposed underneath his helmet. He almost growled, but remained silent and listened attentively.

"However, I've personally come to you to let you know that I'm no longer the same genocidal Disaster Pokémon that I once was. I've turned over a new leaf for the better, and commenced a new life, where I can prove beneficial to this world."

Absol slowly made its way over to Lucario, knowing well enough that Sceptile was behaving as if it were a highly-trained bodyguard. Thankfully, Absol wasn't unnerved by this, and didn't show concern over Sceptile's eye on its actions, because it wasn't going to try anything antagonistic that could get it killed.

It stopped walking when it was within touching distance of the Aura Pokémon, Sceptile as observant and on standby as ever over the Disaster Pokémon.

"So, what do you say? Are you willing to abandon your thoughts of me from all those years ago," Absol raised its right paw to Lucario, offering to shake paws, "and accept my second chance?"

Lucario pondered for a few seconds what Absol had to say, long enough for it to know that Lucario was thinking about this—be it for the better or worse. During this time, Absol pondered what was going on within Lucario's mind. Was he pondering the spiteful actions that it did on his respective species? Was he trying to decipher Absol's behavior and words as heartfelt truth or back-stabbing deceit?

Or was he speculating how it survived that drop at the end of their battle?

Eventually however, Lucario raised his right paw and actually _did shake paws_ with Absol. But before Absol believed it to be a sign that Lucario relinquished his past viewpoints on the Disaster Pokémon and was willing to give it a new start, he stopped shaking Absol's right paw and didn't let go. He simply bared his fangs with a smile, before placing his free left paw on the center of Absol's forehead, charging up a reasonable amount of aura in the process.

Absol already suspected what Lucario was about to do next.

"(Oh fu—)"

Absol is suddenly knocked back when Lucario utilizes FORCE PALM to detonate a reasonably-sized spark of aura on his intended target. The Disaster Pokémon flies back about fifty feet, before doubling that distance by sliding on its back, along the ground.

"Okay…" It said groggily before getting back up, rubbing its forehead and attempting to remove the throbbing pain inflicted onto its skull. "I probably deserved that, for my past actions…"

"_Of _course_ you deserved that!_" He said gravely, and with sixteen-year old rage resurfacing once again. "_You deserved every blow that I've ever inflicted upon you back then. However, a Pokémon of your…_past_…deserves further punishment._"

Before Absol's solitary eye, Lucario's entire body was emanating a scorching red aura, fueled by boiling emotions that have surged up after being dormant for over sixteen years. Lucario connected the inner areas of his wrists together before shifting them to his left side, forming a stance in the process.

"_You deserve to know what it's like to burn in hellfire._"

Lucario's palms suddenly became engorged when his red aura was transferred between them, accumulating together into a massive two-foot-diameter sphere of intense conflagrations. Lucario's stance signaled that he would fire the sphere, as if it were an AURA SPHERE, only far more blazing in terms of raw thermal energy.

The three Pokémon that accompany Lucario—Beldum, Sceptile, and Torchic—grew astounded at how he was able to flawlessly use techniques that defy the learning capabilities of his natural species. Both Latias and Latios however, were more focused on the situation occurring rather than the forces behind them.

Absol stopped rubbing its forehead long enough to see Lucario's hostility in its emotional—and physical—form.

"(Oh shit…)"

Lucario, when he accumulated enough power in his held sphere, forced his paws forward and fired OVERHEAT directly towards Absol. The sphere proved too fast for Absol to avoid—according to its sense of distance—and all that it could do was watch in horror at the raw power of Lucario's unexpected technique.

_**BOOM!**_

The attack, once it hit its mark, exploded brutally, kicking up a massive smoke cloud and the dirt within the vicinity in the process, blanketing its target from view. Every Pokémon in the vicinity shielded their eyes from the power of the attack.

…All except for Latias, who wasn't beside Latios presently.

"Oh, I'm all crackly, crispy, crunchy, crusty…" A carefree, female voice was audible through the smoke.

"(…It didn't…)" Lucario thought with his battle stance frozen briefly.

The smoke cloud departed once the wind carried it away. In its place, Latias stood directly in front of Absol, shielding the Disaster Pokémon from harm and having endured the attack with its body. Latias's entire body was covered in ash-black soot, except for its eyes and mouth—which were closed prior to the attack.

Thankfully, Latias quickly emanated SAFEGUARD—a thin force-field of status-preventing energy—before intercepting the attack, and was protected against any harmful burns that would've likely resulted. Because of this, all that it endured was _fractional_ damage, due to its superior Dragon-Type attribute overriding the Fire-Type attribute of Lucario's OVERHEAT technique.

"_Are you_ _out of your mind?!_" Lucario barked, pissed off at Latias's choice of action.

"(Heh… You have no idea.)" Latios trailed off in thought, understanding Latias because of its past experiences.

"_Why would you protect such a hostile Pokémon?!_"

Latias quickly ruffled its feathers, shaking off its ash-black color in the process and returning to its pristine red/white fluff. "Absol's no longer the same genocidal Pokémon that it once was. It has repented for its sins and now spends its time in speaking for the dead."

Once it finished speaking, it gave one brief look at Absol, smiling to itself after defending it.

"Thank you," Absol said to its befriended bulwark.

"It's what I do best," Latias replied before facing Lucario again. In doing so, it was holding in the pain that Lucario's technique inflicted onto it, and resisted the urge to have its face show its pain. "(Such power…)" It thought with astonishment at Lucario's martial budding.

Lucario ponders about what Absol could've done in the past sixteen years. During that time, for all that he knew, Absol has changed for the better. However, it could've also murdered _more_ of his innate species before then.

Just to be on the safe side, Lucario utilizes his Aura Vision ability to read the personality and thoughts from both Absol _and_ Latias.

Much to his surprise, Absol _has_ changed for the better. However, he sensed next to nothing from Latias, likely in part due to its psychic abilities disrupting his own, preventing his ability to read its mind. Thankfully, reading Absol's mind was all that mattered to the Aura Pokémon, although he secretly wondered what Latias is hiding within its skull.

"(Whatever you're thinking, if it's important, I'll know…)" Lucario thought before disabling his Aura Vision ability.

"(I may be lackadaisical by nature, but I still know what to protect with all my might.)" Latias thought when it no longer sensed Lucario's mental intrusion.

"_As much as I find this hard to believe…_" Lucario's words left an odd taste in his mouth—despite the fact that he spoke with telepathy—that forced him to swallow once and pause in his speech momentarily. "_…I believe you, Absol._"

Both Absol and Sceptile, upon hearing this, widened their eyes at hearing Lucario say something that they found hard to believe. Sceptile's stood down from its standby stance, after hearing Lucario believe the Disaster Pokémon.

But before Absol could express any positive reaction the Aura Pokémon, Lucario was quick in overpowering its emotions.

"_But _don't_ think for a moment that either Sceptile or I have completely accepted your change of heart!_" He stalwartly spoke his mind. "_You need to obtain our trust over time by proving it to us before we genuinely believe you._"

Absol looked back at Sceptile once more, noticing that it no longer had a grip on the hilt of its weapon. However, Sceptile still had that _cold-blooded_ stare from earlier, confirming Lucario's earlier words about developing trust.

Before Sceptile's glare could freeze Absol in its tracks, it looked back at Lucario—as Latias simultaneously returned to Latios's side.

"…Take all the time you need," Absol said with surefire confidence in its voice. "I knew this wasn't something that could change overnight."

Both Lucario and Sceptile gave the Disaster Pokémon skeptical nods. Everybody else was neutral.

Absol took a moment to look around its surroundings and noticed that someone important was missing. "Where is that Riolu I once fought with?"

"You mean Tiny?" Sceptile said bluntly.

Absol looked at the Forest Pokémon and nodded.

"Up there," It said pointing upward with its hand, never removing its glare on Absol.

"…Oh…" Absol immediately understood what it meant. "…Do you want me to speak for its death?"

A relatively long moment of uncomfortable silence passed amongst Lucario's present party of Pokémon. Latias and Latios just watched on.

"(*Sigh*)"

* * *

><p><em>A small moment in time later…<em>

"So, now what do we do?" Torchic inquired, breaking the silence.

"_For starters, we need to locate the cargo helicopter where all of my colleagues are located._" Lucario responded.

"…Colleagues?" Absol said out of curiosity.

"You'll_ know everything eventually,_" Lucario scolded it, deliberately being vague at the Pokémon that it hasn't begun to accept yet.

"_Where do you suppose they're located?_" Beldum wondered.

"_I have no idea,_" The Aura Pokémon admitted. "_For all I know, it could take us all weeks—or even _months—_to locate them, especially since we lack even a slight lead on where they went._"

Latias quickly hovered in front of Lucario—much to his surprise—and had this to say.

"They're on Mirage Island, located in the Hoenn region."

"How do you know that?" Torchic stole Lucario's words before they were annunciated telepathically.

"We passed by it on our way over," Latios stole Latias's words before it could say them.

Lucario was quick to utilize his battle armor's database to search for information relating to this "Mirage Island" that was mentioned. A picture of the island quickly appeared in his helmet's visor, along with three key bits of information on it.

To put it simply, the island contains an abundance of Liechi Berries, a surplus Wynaut population, and is infamously known to _disappear_ from view—hence the name "_Mirage_ Island".

Lucario disabled his visor. "_Was the island nonexistent when you noticed it?_"

Latias, still in front of Lucario, positioned its head within touching distance of Lucario's snout and eyed it broadly. "_You're talking to two Pokémon who are capable of disappearing from view at will. An island that can do what either Latios or I can do rests on our jurisdiction._"

"_That's good to know._"

"Well then, finding that island with their help would be as easy as _pie_," Absol said, including the "pie" part deliberately, knowing that Latias was face-to-face with the Aura Pokémon.

"Mm… Pie…" Latias began to drool with a stupid grin.

Upon seeing this, Lucario's head jerked back and he immediately stepped back a few paces, uncomfortable over Latias's abnormal disposition.

Latios simply rolled its eyes out of displeasure, knowing that Absol knows its sister well enough to control a few of its actions.

"If it's as easy as…you know…" Sceptile resisted saying the taboo three-letter word. "Then we should go over there _now_, while they're still there."

Lucario nods in agreement and retrieves three of the eleven Poké Balls from the utility belt on his possession—Beldum's Ultra Ball, Torchic's Friend Ball, and Sceptile's Luxury Ball. He assimilates all three of them through a bright beam of red energy, and then stores the Poké Balls in their original place. All that remained of the Pokémon within Celadon Forest was Absol, Latias, Latios, and Xeno Lucario.

However, Sceptile's sheathed buster sword remained in its original place, abandoned after Sceptile was assimilated into its Luxury Ball.

Lucario notices this and simply walk over to retrieve it. Once he holds it above the ground, he's surprised at the mass of the sword, and how well it's balanced across the full length of the blade.

"(Thirty pounds in weight, easily…)" He ponders about the sword before walking back over to the other three Pokémon, with the sword in hand.

Latios then asks Lucario a question. "How would you prefer to FLY?"

Lucario looks temporarily over to both Absol and Latias and notices how they're preparing to FLY. He sees Latias gripping Absol tightly by the ribcage and temporarily imagines himself in Absol's position.

He shuddered mildly before looking back to Latias, saying "_On your back_" with a quick tone of voice.

"I'll hold onto the sword then," Latios said with its arm extended out.

Lucario offers the Eon Pokémon the sword, which it grips by the strapped scabbard, and then he mounts on top of its back, wedging himself in a comfortable position that is manageable to the both of them, so that the bulky battle armor doesn't create any pressure points.

Latios's levitation never faltered once Lucario was on its back and it held the buster sword in its arms, signs that it could easily FLY with more than twice its weight on its being.

"_For the record, I can FLY, but not as far or _nearly_ as fast as either you or Latias can._"

"I understand," It said concisely, before thinking "(My Arceus, how much of your martial latency have you awakened?)" in bewilderment.

"Thank you for flying Eon Airlines," Latias began to imitate a flight attendant—as it did with Absol before. "Please keep all physical limbs, digits, and personal possessions within yourself as we—"

"Can we get the hell moving already?!" Latios shouted at its sister counterpart.

"…prepare for flight." Latias said without its former enthusiasm.

"_You know, you shouldn't talk like that to your sister._" Lucario felt like speaking against Latios's behavior.

"You try living alongside it as long as I have," Latios said, "and tell me that it shouldn't be silenced every once in a while out of annoyance."

"(I'm used to it,)" Absol pondered to itself, "(especially since Latias is the only Pokémon on this planet that I could consider being a friend.)"

"As Latios said," Latias looked at its Eon Pokémon counterpart before altering its appearance to look _exactly_ like Latios. "'Can we get the hell moving already?!'" It shouted with proficient mimicry of its tone of irritability.

"…" Latios watched at Latios (Latias) with a spiteful look.

Latios (Latias) simply gave it a cheery, toothy grin before it reverted back to normal.

"…Let's…"

All four Pokémon spontaneously become invisible—under the powers of Latias and Latios—before flying up and away at triple-digit speeds.

Lucario, as they hover above Celadon Forest and leave his home of birth, ponders to himself.

"(Turning invisible…)" He thought, viewing the world as if his eyes were the only part of his body that existed. "(…I would love to learn how to do so.)"

"(With your abilities…)" Latios inconspicuously was reading its mind, "(…you'll learn how to, and you won't even scratch the surface of your potential.)"

* * *

><p>"Why do people act as if war and murder were unnatural? What's unnatural is to go your whole life without ever raising your hand in violence." —Orson Scott Card (262) ("<em><span>Children of the Mind<span>_")

* * *

><p>Normally, I have something to add at the end, but not this time. Just proceed over to the next chapter. I'm not slowing you down here.<p> 


	19. Chapter XIII (13)

With this second chapter of this recent update, I've alreadt stated my thoughts and left them on "Chapter XII (12)". So what I have to say next is very little.

1. Two songs are included here for your listening pleasure. One is from _Kingdom Hearts_ (as is expected of me by now) and the second is from _Kingdom Hearts II_.

2. This chapter focuses on Eduardo's reencounter with the hooded figure (as the _current_ image cover closely depicts what I'm letting you all imagine), alongside a new goal in life that he'll follow.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XIII (13): A New Goal<strong>

Location: My Village

Date: January 2nd, 60 A.D.

Time: 10:21 AM

The succeeding day was spent on repairing the village to its former stateliness. Costas, Ian, all of the able-bodied villagers, and I—in my dragon form—spent our time mending what Mars's Roman battalion wounded.

I proved to be the strong (lizard?) man in this neighborhood task, doing almost all of the heavy-lifting with relative ease, as well as holding material in place while the other villagers seal it to their homes. In doing so, I saved the majority of us a monumental amount of time in having to carry around such laborious material.

Both Costas and Ian were in charged with finding the remains of the deceased villagers. Much to their pain, more and more bodies turned up as the village was gradually restored.

By sunset, the village was fully repaired, in a fraction of the time that it would normally take if I wasn't around to lend a scaled hand.

By the next day, the funeral was held for those whose lives were lost two days ago. It was in my best interests to speak for those who've perished, albeit both Costas and Ian felt as if I wouldn't be appropriate for the task—especially with a tone of voice that sounded as if it was custom made for hellish damnation.

Instead, I was tasked with cremating the bodies, something that most of the villagers agreed on, and all of them eventually settled on—the ones that were still mourning over the loss of their loved ones.

The broken wood that remained from the destruction by the Roman legion was utilized as platforms for the deceased. Once the time was right, I set this platform ablaze, utilizing my Red (Fire) Aura alongside my fire-breathing to do so.

As the bodies and wooden platforms burned away into ash, we gathered around them, hands clasped together and heads down with closed eyes, paying our respects to those who've departed from this world.

What I didn't notice while I was doing this was that some people bothered looking at me temporarily. Some of them found it naturally abnormal for me to be paying respects for them, not because I show no interest in them, but because of my current _disposition_—being a freakishly-large, winged _dragon_ and all.

After the funeral, the bulk of my time was spent in experimenting ways to revert back to normal—if at all that was possible. I conducted small-scale experiments utilizing cells harvested from my scales that I separated from my being, and attempted various Berry emulsions in reverting them back to human flesh through trial and error. In doing so, I quickly discovered that two Berries of different traits work much better than one solitary Berry, and their effects are vastly improved.

Now if only I could find the right combination of these two said Berries…

As I experimented on doing so, Costas and Ian—many times over—attempted to tell me about the visitor that came over here on the first of December of last year.

"**I've told you two before,**" I said this repeatedly whenever they brought up the topic. "**After I've reverted back to normal, I'll hear about it! I want it to be something that I've earned as a reward.**"

The more I told them off, the more they pondered to themselves if I truly _cared_ or not about the visitor. However, they knew well enough that I was more focused on more _pressing_ matters, because it deeply mattered to me if I was able to revert back to normal from this _monstrous_ state of body.

* * *

><p><em><span>19.1: The Beast Slumbers within Me Again<span>_

Location: My Laboratory (Testing Room)

Date: January 9th, 60 A.D.

Time: 5:37 PM

Through sufficient trial and error, I've finally formulated a concoction of two Berries that successfully reverted one of my dragon scales back into a strip of human skin. With success in hand, I was ready to take this experiment large-scale, and revert myself to normality.

I invited Costas, Ian, and all of the villagers over to the Testing Room—the very same room where complex science gave birth to the first of my current three "S-Rank" inventions, the S1-GS device—once I developed a healing tank to incorporate my mass, as well as the _thousands_ of gallons necessary to revert my draconic body to normal.

All of the audience noticed a glass dome suspended above a metallic platform, and controls and sensors relating to it on a monitor connected to it. They noticed my being standing between this healing tank and them.

Deciding not to explain the elaborate science of what I succeeded in doing, I spoke what this machine is for, and what it will do to me. To put it simply, the healing tank will _purge_ me of this draconic body and revert myself back to my normal human body, as I originally once was.

Before stepping into the healing tank, I removed all three "S-Rank" devices that I had strapped onto my scaly being and handed them over to my brothers for safekeeping. Next, I placed myself within the healing tank, only needing to coil my wings into my body and wrap my tail around one of my legs in order to fit properly into the container.

My brothers were in charge of operating the controls of the machine. They set the "S-Rank" inventions temporarily aside by the healing tank before they electronically commanded the glass dome to lower, vacuum seal, and close me within my healing tank. Once sealed inside, I mentally congratulated myself on the perfect combination of glass size, one large enough to hold me and small enough to not waste any fluid that will enter.

Next, once Costas and Ian checked that the healing tank was perfectly sealed, they had the entire tank gradually fill to the brim with an eerie green liquid—the mixture of two Berries that I found able to revert me to normal. I could feel the liquid quickly rise from below, climb up the levels of height on my body in a very short amount of time. It reached up to my toes, to my ankles, to my shins, and to my knees in seconds. The sound of it, bouncing off of this glass dome like an echo in a cave, reminded me of the roar of a waterfall. And the temperature of it all reminded me of a cold shower.

As the liquid continued to rise until it filled to the brim, I began to stick onto my chest stamp-sized sensors that I had present within the healing tank. With these on, my brothers were now able to analyze my body temperature, blood-oxygen levels, and heart rate, making sure everything was stable throughout this session.

Before the liquid reached my neck, I attached a modified breathing apparatus over my lizard-like snout—because where _else_ would a _breathing_ apparatus go?—and secured it tightly before the juice overcame my head. I had my ash-black eyes opened within the solution, thankful that the solution I formulated was gentle on the eyes, and watched on at my spectators outside of the glass.

I looked over to my side to notice Costas writing something on the touch screen of my S2-PTSDOv.2 device. After a few seconds, he held the device in front of me, showing me what he wrote.

"HOW ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?" My device had this message present on its screen.

"**Just fine,**" I was able to speak with a restricted snout, and loud enough to be heard through the healing tank. "**Activate the electric generators.**"

My brothers hesitated mildly before turning on the healing tank's internal electric generators. They knew that it was supposed to be set at low—to amplify the effects of the Berry mixture—, but wondered if there was a lower setting so that I would feel no pain. However, my orders were specific, and I do know more about science than they do—than they will ever know.

Also, there's this very well known cliché: no pain, no gain.

_Beyond the Door/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD2 - Kingdom Hearts OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

As quickly as they activated the generators, my body twitched after feeling an unpleasant electric sensation course through the green fluid. I felt as if I was consistently hit with a steady static shock, and cringed at the pain it inflicted. However, I knew that this electricity was necessary, and I allowed my endurance surplus to keep me stable throughout this uncomfortable jolting.

Before the audience, the healing tank was gradually beginning to fog up from the inside, the electricity causing the fluid to break up into its gaseous properties—the water within into hydrogen and oxygen. I knew that this would happen, and the surplus of fluid would more than cope with that. However, everybody else thought otherwise and wondered what this was all about.

Seconds later, once the fog completely blanketed me from view, a loud roaring and thrashing sound was audible from _within_ the healing tank. In scattered areas of the glass dome, spider-web cracks began to form.

The audience began to grow anxious, but Costas and Ian reassured them by saying that the glass is heavily layered and resilient, and that the cracks came from the failing _internal_ layer.

Once they looked back at the monitor on the machine, they noticed that my heart rate and stress levels were off the charts, maxing out at _400 beats per minute_—twice that of any normal human heart ever reaching.

But before they—or the villagers—began to worry any further, my distressing sounds stopped altogether.

…Along with my heart rate…again.

Costas and Ian immediately activated the abort function of the healing tank, which immediately caused the liquid to drain away through the pipes that I had incorporated into the healing tank, having it reduced to a few puddles in the machine. Immediately afterward, the glass dome began to rise—somehow leaving the fog intact—until it couldn't rise upward any further.

Before my brothers jumped into the fog, the monitor alerted them that my heart rate had resumed to normality.

_(Song Ends)_

Everyone stood still and watched quietly at the tranquility of the fog, wondering what occurred to me within the machine. They wondered—my brothers especially—if I had succeeded on returning human, or failed and remained draconic, for the rest of my life.

All of a sudden, everybody sees my _clawed_ hand extend outward from the fog, and have their heart rate temporarily elevate at the sudden sight of this.

From their points of view, they see a bloody, decayed, deteriorating, and putrid hand. They see various parts of its flesh fall off of me and onto the floor, leaving puddles of squalid blood in the process, all of which was _no longer_ acidic.

From this dripping mess of shedding scales, the _core_ of my arm was gradually becoming visible. To those who were closest around my point of being, they noticed _human_ flesh underneath dragon flesh, between which a layer of blood was present, one that _wasn't_ within my body and putting me at risk of severe anemia, just present there when my dragon flesh began to decay away.

"…Costas? Ian?" I speak through the fog, in my normal voice.

Holding in their emotions, they say "Yes?" in unison.

"May I get a towel, please? I would prefer not to step out _indecent_ in front of the audience." I flick my hand a couple of times, having more pieces of flesh fall off in the process.

I suddenly felt my hand drop slightly when a cotton towel was thrown onto it. My peeling external flesh no longer registered touch, so I only assumed that the towel was in my possession when my hand feebly wobbled up and down—and I could feel a soft material through the internal human flesh that was gradually unearthing. Once I retracted my hand back into the fog, I knew for certain that it was a towel that was now in my possession.

About a minute later, I emerge from the fog, feet first and then the remainder of my body—the towel wrapped around my waistline and stopping just above my knees. Sure enough, I appeared before everybody as a cross between _both_ of my bodies, divided 50-50 amongst my being. I still retained my tail and wings, along with the horns on my head and bony protrusions beside my mouth.

Before any speculation aroused as to how morbidly mar I've become, the remainder of my flesh fell off of my body in large chunks once it was loose enough, exposing a bloody coat that my old body now was wearing. And all of those pieces of my draconic body that were falling off of me dissolved upon hitting the floor, shrinking in size until nothing remained but a pool of blood and fragments of flesh.

Thankfully, I was now back to normal and all that I would require is a simple shower to remove the blood that collected underneath the shedding skin. My brothers could take care of the mopping of the floor, worry free of acidic blood.

Before I knew it, euphoric applause was audible throughout the Testing Room of my laboratory. I saw people in front of me absolutely astounded at what I've done, as if I had just performed a magic trick of epic proportions. And if I didn't know any better, they saw me as something similar to a _god_, or at least something close to that title, such as a deity or demigod.

Both Costas and Ian approached me, amazed at how I was successfully able to return to normality, and refraining from backslapping me in admiration because of my blood.

Costas quickly notices my left eye amongst all of my sanguine coating. "Why is your left eye all white?" He told me, almost pointing his finger into that eye.

Upon hearing that remark, I quickly waved my hand across each eye. Much to my awareness, I had reverted back to normal, in _every_ sense of the word. Not generically normal, as in two working eyes and scar-free skin that I once possessed, but _personally_ normal as in scars riddling mostly my backside, useless left eye, and second network of blood vessels that were present on my body's extremities alongside my core.

"(I guess I truly _am_ back to normal…)" I thought solemnly.

"What was in that liquid that you used?" Ian asked, curious of my methods.

I set aside the return to this normality that I had reacquired and faced Ian. "The liquid that I used was a concoction of Apicot and Petaya Berries, two from those sixty-four fruit that I successfully gene-spliced."

"Why did you use those two?"

"They hold very special properties. The Apicot Berry responds to unusual situations, while the Petaya Berry responds to living things. A combination of them fitted with my predicament and reacted to my condition."

"I can't imagine how many of those Berries you had to use to fill up that healing tank," Costas interrupted. "How many did you have to extract until their juices sufficed your needs?"

"Not as many as you would think," I looked at him now. "Only one percent of the fluid was Berry juice extract. The remaining ninety-nine percent of it was water mixed into the overall solution."

* * *

><p><em><span>19.2: Contact with the Unwelcomed Shadow<span>_

Location: My Laboratory (Lavatory)

Time: 6:06 PM

Once all of the commotion ended between my brothers and the audience, I decided to remove the blood that clung onto my skin by taking a shower.

As the shower head sprayed hot water over the crown of my head and travelled down the remainder of my naked body, I pondered to myself about my transmogrification from dragon to human.

"(My blood is no longer acidic,)" I thought when I saw the blood run down the drain, not eating away at anything it was contacting. "(That must be a specific characteristic of that state of body.)"

After thoroughly scrubbing myself down with soap, I switched the water off once I was rinsed clean and took one look at my wet body. In doing so, I noticed that my body _fully _remained as it once was _before_ my transmogrification. That includes the extensive scars that I've sustained—most of which were collected on my back—, the second network of blood vessels—that exist on my arms, legs, stomach, around my ineffective left eye, and _not_ around my active right eye. I originally expected that my human body would return me into perfect condition, but that was obviously not the case.

"(What a shame,)" I thought hollowly.

As I stepped out of the shower, dried off with the towel that I had, and eventually dressed myself in my basic attire—black eye patch over left eye, blue jeans, monochrome shoes, white shirt—, I pondered to myself how exciting it was to transmogrify. Once I looked past the intense pain of doing so—as well as the fatigue that resulted—, I realized that the options that it would grant me in battle far outweighed the consequences, especially if I could _master_ this ability.

"(Perhaps if I had more practice with this ability, my body can gradually adapt to it, possibly to the point where swapping forms is instantaneous and not painful.)" I pondered before finishing putting on my basic wardrobe, then retrieving my technological devices, all of which I had brought with me earlier.

As I strapped on my sheathed "S-Rank" inventions onto my torso, I continued to think about this new ability of mine.

"(Is this an ability that lay dormant within me and activated under urgent circumstances, much like my Elemental Aura abilities over a decade ago? Or was it one that was _given_ to me?)" I finished strapping on my "S-Rank" devices and crossed my arms to contemplate, with my head tilted down and my right hand holding my chin. "(If this power was given to me, then who was the donor? Was it that dragon that I clashed with over ten years ago? Was it that hooded figure that transported me back here, to the village of my birth? If they didn't, then perhaps it simply resurfaced from within my unconscious. But how can I know for certain?)"

I simply summarized this to the list of questions that I searched the answers to:

Who _truly_ killed my parents?

Why do I have these phenomenal Elemental Aura abilities, and a superior intellect to compliment it?

Whatever happened to the dragon that I (allegedly) killed?

What is this "It" that that dragon is referring to?

The beast that I saw in a dream, prior to gaining my Elemental Aura abilities and leaving my home village… What in the world did I see?

And, since when am I able to _transmogrify into a dragon_?

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Tech Room)<span>

Time: 6:26 PM

Eventually, I made my way back to my brothers, fully dressed and blood-free after my shower. The two of them awaited me in the Tech Room of my laboratory, finished mopping the bloody mess that I left behind earlier.

And sure enough, during my absence, they had time to ponder some new questions about my alternate form.

"Hey Eduardo, what was it like to become a dragon?" Costas asked.

"How did it feel like to reside in a dragon's body?" Ian asked.

"(We're _still_ in this topic?)" I thought momentarily after hearing their questions, and then responded with an answer. "To be honest, it felt vaguely…familiar."

Both of by brothers gave me odd looks because of my unorthodox response to their questions.

"And I know I've stated earlier that I've never become _that_ before."

"If you've never become a dragon before," Ian continued. "Then how can you say that you feel 'familiar' with that form?"

I had to ponder this question in detail for a moment before speaking. "Even though adaptability is one of my strongest attributes, I know that it's virtually impossible to adapt to a new body and how it works on the first try. And now that I look back on this—on what I've done when combating Mars's Roman legion—, I can't help but wonder how I was able to not only control myself _flawlessly_, but also decimate Mars and his Roman legion, all without so much as losing control of myself."

"Is this going to be one of those topics in your life that you'll want answers to?" Costas suspected.

"It's actually the sixth question on my growing list, right after that bipedal creature that I saw in my dream."

"A thought just occurred to me," Ian said. "If becoming a dragon feels vaguely _familiar_ to you, then doesn't that mean that you're able to transmogrify into it at will?"

I formed my thinking stance and pondered for a moment. "Hmm…Well, familiarity _is_ linked to plurality, and I strongly support that possibility."

"Won't it hurt you if you transform again?"

I thought back to the exact moment that I transmogrified, back with the fight against Mars.

* * *

><p>(Eduardo's Flashback)<p>

_ Once the flame surrounded me entirely, the pain suddenly mollified to virtual nothingness when my _heart_ stopped beating. "(What's going on with me?)" Was what I was trying to think, but was unable to._

_ The next thing I notice, my body begins to swell._

_ With what little nerve activity I had active for me, I could feel my bones and muscles changing shape. My tendons were growing with them as well. The agony of burning flesh mollified, almost as if I was losing skin to burn. Before I could make sense of this phenomenon, I felt a sharp sensation between both of my scapulas (shoulders) and my coccyx (tailbone). I could only tell from my shadow what was occurring behind me._

_ To my surprise, I notice two large _wings_ and a fifteen-foot-long _tail_ spontaneously emerge from my body. Their appearance struck a chord of nostalgia within me, one which wasn't damaged yet by the bodily inferno I was undergoing. The two wings and tail however, were on fire, but not _burning_, like my skin, simply because they had some acidic blood residue on them. My wings flop in front of my face, and I notice that they were _scaled_._

_ "(Oh…shit…)" I thought, with what little ability I had to at the moment, and with whatever willpower I could muster to do so._

_ I knew what I was becoming as I endured this. I'm undergoing a metamorphosis, into a _dragon_._

_ Below my eyes, I could see my face elongating and widening, right in _front_ of me. My teeth sharpen and stick out externally and in an outward angle from my lengthened mouth. The back of my jaw grows several bone spikes as my neck elongates _five times_ its normal length. Spines stick out of the back of my stretching neck, across the back of my spine, and stop two feet from the tip of my new tail. My fingernails and toenails grow thicker and longer, in conjunction with my enlarging hands and feet, which gradually grew more lizard-like, yet somewhat retaining a shred of their human-like shape._

_ Everyone whose eyes are locked on to my transmogrification watch on with assorted emotions and scattered thoughts._

_ Costas and Ian, showing the most concern over my well-being, wonder when my metamorphosis will end for me. After all, they see me now at more than _twice_ my normal height, coiled up yet still upright, and dripping with burning acidic blood. They wonder why I'm not screaming my vocal chords into submission._

_ Or at least, they used to think that._

_ When my heart resumed beating, my head tilted to the sky and I _finally_ let out a scream, a sharp scream of misery and pain, one that _itself_ transmogrifies from a human wail into an ear-piercing, earth-rattling roar of a _dragon_. The scream triggered a powerful shockwave that originated from my position. The shockwave instantly knocks everyone back and douses all fires, my own and the house's fires, sparing either of us from further damage._

* * *

><p>(End of Eduardo's Flashback)<p>

"If I do transform again," I said. "I hope that my body adapts to it eventually, because nothing that I've endured before hurt as _miserably_ as that."

"It probably will in time," Ian assured me.

"If it's anything like your Elemental Aura abilities, then your body will adjust and you'll grow more experienced in them." Costas entered the conversation.

"And if it's anything like your second network of blood vessels for your Elemental Aura abilities, then you'll likely sprout wings, horns, and a tail from your dragon form that'll stay on your regular body."

I smiled and chuckled mildly at the thought of that, at being a human/dragon hybrid. "I'm glad then that I don't care about my appearance."

My brothers seemed to chuckle at the idea as well, and we continued for a few seconds until I had a thought arise within my mind.

"I wonder if I had this new ability since birth, or if it was _given_ to me recently."

Before we have time to discuss, we all hear a voice from behind us, one that is all too _familiar_ with me.

"Your power was never bestowed by _anyone_ on this world. It was simply dormant within you, more so than your…'Elemental Aura', was it?"

_Hesitation/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD4 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

All three of us about-face quickly and see a human-like figure stand before us, clad in a shrouding dark cloak that bulwarked any hint of identification. The figure stood fifteen feet away from us, facing us for no known reason.

Both of my brothers asked me of this being.

"Hey Eduardo…" Costas began.

"…Who _is_ that?" Ian ended.

Immediately, I startle my brothers by standing in front of them, in a defensive stance. "The hooded figure who sent me here," I said, biting my tongue somewhat before I could add "against my will" out of reflex.

I quickly draw out my S1-GS device from its respective holster and hold it out towards him, having its center button pointed directly at him in the process. With a spiteful look in my eyes, I say "What are you doing here?"

The hooded figure casually says "What, you returned to liking and protecting this _dump_ of a place that you earlier wanted no part of anymore?" before chuckling to himself.

I took this as a sign that he doesn't see what kind of a situation he's placed himself in. Also, I disliked his smug remark, and immediately had my S1-GS device open, exposing the black hole within before him.

The S1-GS device immediately begins to siphon the air in front of me with its immense gravitational pull, causing the walls to bend somewhat, and the paneling to peel off before entering my handheld device. The hooded figure, much to my surprise, evaded this device entirely. He simply _dove into his shadow_ in an instant, escaping the gravitational pull entirely.

"Tch, (clever…)" I thought briefly before closing the device and tucking it away, ceasing all disturbances in gravity within the Tech Room.

The hooded figure resurfaced from his shadow as quickly as he descended within it, appearing none the worse in appearance. "Cute toy," he began again, "but ineffective on me."

"What are you here for?" I ask solemnly.

"I'm here to explain to you what you've been deliberately postponing for over a week now," The hooded figure pointed a finger at both of my brothers behind me. "What both of your brothers were wishing to tell you: about the _visitor_ that came here over one month ago."

I hear sharp gasps from my brothers behind my back, but I never look back at them and keep my eyes firmly locked on the hooded figure. I don't trust the hooded figure before me, mainly because he's just as unpredictable as I am in terms of supernatural abilities, and I would much prefer to _not_ be caught off guard by him again.

"I know that you know this much: what the visitor did here, from what Mars told you."

Mentally, I travel back in time to the point where Mars told me what he knew about the visitor.

* * *

><p>(Eduardo's Flashback)<p>

_ "That _bitch_ of a visitor came here one month ago and decided to spare me out of mercy!" Mars began to describe what he had to say. "I came here one month ago, with a legion of 500 soldiers, waiting to burn this place into the ground. We were tipped of your banishment and came here as fast as we could move. Without you in sight, my victory over here was guaranteed!"_

_ "(This is what Costas and Ian meant to tell me?)" I thought, listening attentively, yet not dissipating my aura technique._

_ "However, _it_ decided to protect this village, out of some…" Mars lifted his hands in front of his chest and twitched his first two fingers, "…'I'll-scratch-your-back-and-you'll-scratch-mine' crap. _It_ showed abilities similar to those of your own. It was fully capable of speech, but didn't open its mouth! Its appearance…it was and was _not human!_ And in the end, that alien of nature spared me and decided to wash me away north on the Red Sea, giving me its entire _name_ out of pity."_

* * *

><p>(End of Eduardo's Flashback)<p>

"How do you know that?" I said in astonishment.

"That's not what I'm here for," The hooded figure said before continuing. "I'm only here to tell what the visitor is and where it is now."

As much as I didn't want to, I listened closely to what he had to say, relaxing somewhat—but not completely—in the process.

"To begin with, the visitor is not of this world. It is an extraterrestrial, arriving here from a rift in space. It resided in this laboratory for one week, until it ran off after defeating Mars and his Roman battalion."

"(He even knows how long he stayed here for?)" Ian pondered.

"Its name…is Xeno Lucario. And now it wanders this earth in a feeble attempt to find its way home."

Without looking away, I ask my bothers this. "Costas, Ian…, is all of this true?"

"Every word," Costas affirmed in bewilderment.

"And how do you know that?" I told the hooded figure.

"Like _hell_ I'll tell you," He told me sharply.

"(Such an enigma…)" I thought before saying another question. "What about your name? What is it?"

"My name? I don't _have_ one."

"(No name?)" I thought, hiding my surprise from him. "Well then, what role do you have in this?"

Just as I said this, the shadow of the hooded figure warped into a sable circle that he stood in the center of. Before my eyes, he began to sink into the floor, feet first, slowly and ominously. "You'll know when it matters most in time. But until then, I'm nothing more to you than an enigma."

Once his head disappeared below, the sable circle faded away from existence, as if it never was there to begin with.

_(Song Ends)_

After the hooded figure departed from my laboratory, I pondered what he had to tell me—what I've postponed Costas and Ian telling me over the last week. "(So a being by the name of Xeno Lucario arrived from a rift in space and decimated Mars's first battalion, and then left and now wanders this planet, searching for a way home.)"

My brothers see me lost in thought and interrupt me by having this to say.

"You know, he didn't tell you _every_thing," Ian said.

My eyes temporarily widen and I look behind me to face my brothers. "What _didn't_ he mention?"

"The world that Xeno came from is similar to _this_ world in almost every way, except that it's set about 2000 years into the future," Costas explained.

"It was wearing battle armor upon arrival, and had sustained severe abdominal injuries," Ian added.

"Was it alright?" I said—almost saying "did it survive" out of stupidity.

"It recovered quickly, especially with the knowledge that it had over the Berries that you gene-spliced," Costas mentioned.

"(It knew about the Berries? How's that possible?)" I pondered. "How does it know of the Berries?"

"We don't know," Ian admitted melancholically. "It was mostly a closed book for its week-long settlement here. We only heard of its name before it decided to leave."

We remained silent for a solid minute in time. During that time, I digested what my brothers—and the hooded figure—told me of this being that arrived here, into this dimension—this planet Earth—, and resided here, within my laboratory. I also recalled what Mars told me of it, how it is supposedly _parallel_ to me in terms of abilities.

"(If what Mars said is true about its abilities,)" I pondered during this silence. "(Then maybe…_just_ maybe…it could hold some answers that I'm looking for. It just might hold the key to my Elemental Aura abilities, how and why I possess them.)"

"So Eduardo," Costas said casually. "Seeing you think this much, I believe that you have a new goal in mind."

I nodded at Costas's speculation.

"What is it then?" Ian wondered. "What do you plan on doing?"

"I'm going to find this 'Xeno Lucario' creature," I said. "Mars told me that it was my _parallel_ in terms of abilities, and that alone might hold some answers to the questions that I'm looking for."

Both of my brothers seemed to be in agreement with my choice of action.

"It's funny," Costas began. "We actually told it to find _you_, because you're easily the most likely person on this planet to help it return home."

"Is that so," I said, almost chucking at the fact that Xeno and I were now looking for each other.

"However," Ian began to warn me. "Xeno doesn't take to kindly to most of humanity. It absolutely despises the type of person that thinks themselves as superior, and that have the ability to enslave lesser species for their own benefit."

"And you're telling me this to see how it'll respond to me when we eventually meet?" I assumed.

Ian nodded, Costas as well.

"Well then, I have absolutely _nothing_ to worry about," I chimed. "You see, I'm not human."

Both of my brothers gave me confused stares.

"What are you talking about?" Costas inquired.

"During my time of banishment, I've spent some time in pondering who I am," I explained. "And after reviewing my key characteristics, I know that I've long abandoned myself as a citizen to humanity. My Elemental Aura abilities, my proficiency in technology, my newly-unearthed _draconic_ capabilities… All of these put me _leagues_ beyond humanity. Everything that I'm capable of, humanity is unable to perform, and most likely never will."

"Okay…" Costas droned at my words, making sense of them.

"What if Lucario sees you as hostile?" Ian inquired me, thinking of branching possibilities that might occur when Lucario and I meet. "What if it chooses to attack you?"

"I'll fight back if I must, but merely out of defense."

"What if it's stronger than you?" Costas speculated. "What if it…_kills_ you?" Costas almost shuddered at the thought of my death.

Once again, I smiled. Only this time, I chuckled to myself briefly. "I should've died already a few times over during my life. I should've been dead when I first manufactured the S1-GS device, when the black hole nearly _assimilated_ the three of us. I should've been dead during that torture session that the Romans put us through, when they _whipped away_ most of the skin off of my back. I should've been dead when I first obtained my Elemental Aura abilities, when I was _skewered_ by an artillery round. I should've been dead when I—"

"Okay! We get it!" Costas shouted out of annoyance. "You're starting to sound like a broken track record."

"How will you find Xeno?" Ian questioned me again. "For all we know, it could be _anywhere_ on this planet."

I smile again and said "I have my ways" before patting my hand on my chest—or to be more precise, my set of twenty-six S3-OSS devices.

* * *

><p>"When you have wisdom that another person knows that he needs, you give it freely. But when the other person doesn't yet know that he needs your wisdom, you keep it to yourself." —Orson Scott Card (396) ("<em><span>Xenocide<span>_")

* * *

><p>Before I take my leave for now, I'll tell you something about the future of this story.<p>

As I've stated on my profile, "Chapter XVIII (18)" is the last chapter of this story. And for the next five chapters, I will fulfill the point that I made when I first started writing my story.

"One Unique boy. One Mysterious Pokémon. Two different sides, merging together into one shared story."

The final five chapters begin the climax where I bring my two protagonists, Eduardo and Xeno Lucario, together.

But how exactly will I do that?

In the middle of October, you'll find out. And this time, I'll be true to my deadline.


	20. Chapter XIV (14)

Hit Count: 3,280

...

...

...Uh...Holy, crap...

I haven't seen _this_ much growth in my story's reputation since...EVER. And for those who don't believe me, I'll put it into perspective.

Since my last update, my hit count has increased by 571, compared to the 2,709 that I had before. That number will only continue to go up as I progress, but I feel as though I've broken a record for myself or something.

The same can be said for my review count as well, because it practically DOUBLED between these two updates. Thank you TaXMaNFoReVeR for your opinions and your willingness to give a little bit of your time and thought to my story. I greatly appreciate it. I only hope that other readers follow your example, because it does well to improve our work as a whole.

Anyway, back to what's truly relevent.

This chapter is, I believe, one that will change your viewpoint on the matters at hand, one that will make you see the bigger picture on what's to occur. I'd go into more detail, but what's the point when there's over 10,000 words to my chapter to do so for me already?

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XIV (14): Crossing Dimensions<strong>

Location: Mirage Island

Date: October 17th, 2011

Time: 5:10 PM

The Pokémon within the cargo helicopter successfully touched down on Mirage Island, and have decided to take temporary shelter on the surface of the island. Once on the island, they all decided to spend their time exploring the contents of the island, before moving on with Phase Three of Team Liberator's Plan.

A few of the Pokémon remained nearby the cargo helicopter.

Terra was one of those Pokémon.

"Dusknoir," the Mach Pokémon inquires. "Where are we?"

The Gripper Pokémon still remained within the cargo helicopter's cockpit. Hearing Terra's question, it accessed the cargo helicopter's onboard GPS system and pinpointed their location within seconds.

The results bordered on the lines of impossibility.

"(This can't be right…)" Dusknoir pondered where the GPS system told it where they all were.

"Dusknoir?" Terra asked the Gripper Pokémon again. "Might I ask where we presently are?"

"_…The GPS says that we're in the middle of the ocean,_" It said dubiously.

Terra, upon hearing this, decided to enter the cargo helicopter and see this anomaly for itself. Once it noticed the GPS system, telling the both of them that they were in the middle of the ocean, it had this to say.

"It's probably buggy."

Charmeleon resided outside of the cargo helicopter, overhearing their conversation, as it eyed the vast ocean beyond the borders of Mirage Island.

"It might be buggy, Terra," Charmeleon said before looking between its feet for a brief moment in time. "Just look at what we're standing on top of: dry land." The Flame Pokémon looked back at the ocean and shuddered as it thought this. "(I'm glad I'm on this island and not in the middle of the ocean.)"

Both Dusknoir and Terra exited the cargo helicopter and eyed the ocean alongside Charmeleon.

"So, where are we _exactly_?" Terra speculated.

Just as Terra had finished that question, Aqua came back to dry land after swimming around the island. It leapt out of the water and landed onto the shore, where it dragged its massive belly over towards the cargo helicopter with its broad flippers, directly over to where Charmeleon, Dusknoir, and Terra resided.

"We're on Mirage Island." Aqua said.

"_How do you know that?_" Dusknoir inquired out of curiosity.

"Well, prior to my capture," Aqua began to explain. "I used to travel the seas with my herd."

All of a sudden, Aqua's eyes locked onto Terra and it froze the Mach Pokémon's mouth shut with an ICE BEAM attack, preventing any further pardoning from the Mach Pokémon that would quickly get on its nerves. Terra struggled in thawing its mouth out, slowly scratching away at the ice with its claws, thankful that this was one of the times where it was able to breathe through its nostrils, rather than having _that_ frozen sealed as well.

"We heard plenty of rumors from fellow Water-Type Pokémon, explaining of a disappearing island within the Hoenn region. The rumors explain an island that houses Liechi Berries and inhabiting Wynaut."

Aqua—as well as the Pokémon that it was talking to—notice both Liechi Berries and Wynaut in the far-off vicinity.

"This must be that island," the Transport Pokémon concluded.

Terra eventually tired of scratching away at the ice and realized that it could use Charmeleon's tail flame to melt it. It retrieved the Flame Pokémon with its arms and held the tip of its tail to its face. And as the ice thawed away, Charmeleon couldn't help but feel as if it was just used as a tool.

Luxray suddenly came into the picture and asked the Pokémon this question.

"Has anyone seen Lairon, Tyranitar, and Wanderer?"

* * *

><p><em><span>20.1: Personal Loss<span>_

Location: Mirage Island (Open Field)

Time: 5:16 PM

_Missing You/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD3 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

In an open field on the surface of Mirage Island, Wanderer resided atop of the grass, on his right side and in the fetal position, crying silently.

A group of Wynaut surrounded this solemn Aura Pokémon, wondering why it seemed so depressed. A few of them thought of comforting it, and decided to bring over a dozen Liechi Berries in an attempt to do so.

Wanderer didn't so much as pay attention to them. It hardly even noticed their presence either, because its eyes were blinded by its own tears.

The group of Wynaut, feeling that their attempts at mollification were in vain, decided to simply leave the Liechi Berries behind and go their separate ways.

Both Lairon and Tyranitar, whom spent their time searching for the Aura Pokémon, eventually located it and approached it.

"Look, there it is," Tyranitar said. "It's just crying to itself like a little bitch."

Wanderer didn't even listen to the Armor Pokémon deliberate, expletive remark.

Lairon—being far gentler than its companion—decided to walk up to the Aura Pokémon, to see what was wrong with it. "…You okay…?" It mumbled when it faced Wanderer.

"_…First it was over a year ago, when Sceptile and Tiny were obliterated and removed from this world…_" Wanderer spoke telepathically, while it was still crying in the middle of its words. "_…And now, just yesterday…Xeno ceases to exist._"

"…" Lairon remains emotionally and physically stagnant, its eyes shrouded in the same darkness that always seems to be present around it.

When it was able to see through its tears and notice Lairon's quiescence, Wanderer stops crying momentarily and asks the Iron Armor Pokémon this question.

"_Are you even capable of _feeling_ emotions?_"

For a brief moment, Lairon's eyes were visible to the Aura Pokémon. Its eyes had an honest look to them, especially when Lairon muttered "…No… Sorry…"

Wanderer, once Lairon's eyes returned to darkness, simply broke down again and resumed sobbing.

Tyranitar, still amongst both Lairon and Wanderer, was beginning to grow aggravated from the constant sobbing that just wouldn't cease. In an attempt to stop Wanderer from sobbing, Tyranitar grabbed it by its sides and hoisted it up to its face.

"Listen, you!" Tyranitar began. "Stop bitching about those that you've lost, no matter how important to you they may seem! Stop bitching about it, because it's in the past, and the past is set in stone, unable to be altered!"

"…" Wanderer looked at the Armor Pokémon with a pitiful, teary-eyed countenance, taking all of this too closely to its chest.

"Everyone dies, and no one lives forever!" Tyranitar continued. "I've witnessed death the instant that I was born in Team Rocket! You've hardly gotten to know it! Seeing it so much has hardened my emotions to the point where they're as dry and unforgiving as the desert! You've yet to grow accustomed to it!"

"…" Wanderer looked back at the floor and continued to sob, appearing unaffected by Tyranitar's questionable attempt at "mollification".

Tyranitar quickly finds this to be pointless and simply throws Wanderer aside. Wanderer lands on its right side and curls up into the fetal position once more, uncaring of Tyranitar's actions, behavior, or reasoning.

Moments after, Aqua, Charmeleon, Dusknoir, Luxray, and Terra arrive to the scene. They barely catch Tyranitar's and Wanderer's "conversation".

Tyranitar decides to retrieve Wanderer's Liechi Berries and then notices the group of Pokémon that arrived.

"If you want to attempt to placate this bitch, then go ahead!" Tyranitar told them before walking closer to the shoreline, where it sat down and began to stuff the Berries down its mouth.

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><em><span>20.2: Returning Survivors<span>_

Time: 5:50 PM

The sun was beginning to set over Mirage Island, blanketing the sky in a red-orange hue. Within the sky, four Pokémon—currently harboring invisibility—made their descent onto Mirage Island: Absol, Latias, Latios, and Xeno.

Upon landing nearby the cargo helicopter, the invisibility dissipated, exposing a Latias holding an Absol in its arms, and a Latios with a Lucario on its back, and Sceptile's buster sword in its arms.

Latias releases Absol from its grip, and Lucario dismounts Latios. Lucario retrieves the three Poké Balls in his possession—Beldum's Ultra Ball, Sceptile's Luxury Ball, and Torchic's friend Ball—and releases the Pokémon within them.

Once Sceptile was out of its Poké Ball, Latias handed over the buster sword in its possession to its respective owner. As Sceptile retrieved the sword and strapped it onto its being, Lucario removes his battle armor with ease—simply by using PSYCHIC—and places it within the cargo helicopter.

Absol takes a brief look at the cargo helicopter, seeing it simply for what it was and not what was on it. "Is this their cargo helicopter?" Absol spoke to Lucario.

"_Yes…it is,_" He responded plainly, having yet to come to respect the Disaster Pokémon.

Lucario looks on ahead from the cargo helicopter to see where the passengers of the aerial vehicle now resided. He quickly sees them on an open field, all gathered in one area, surrounding Wanderer for some reason.

Lucario quickly contemplated a likely reason.

"_The six of you…_" Lucario looked back at his party. "_I need you all to remain here._"

"…What for?" Latios said with minor irritation in its tone of voice.

"_I have one wrong to set right before I decide to introduce you all to them._" He said, before recalling what happened yesterday prior to his fight with Giovanni.

* * *

><p>(Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"I can't lose you like we did with Sceptile and Tiny, Lucario! They meant a lot to us and they died under _his_ hands! Do you know what kind of a person Giovanni is?! He had you murder other Pokémon, because they were _inferior_! He will _murder_ you, like he did with Sceptile and Tiny!"

_ "…" Lucario never looked away from Giovanni, not wanting to expose himself to a surprise attack, and not wanting to show Wanderer that it was getting to him emotionally._

_ A few of Lucario's tears dribbled down the visor, and took shelter in his fur collar. He recalled painfully how Giovanni and his Team Rocket Grunts murdered their friends, captured them both, and had him "dispose" of feeble Pokémon and capture stronger Pokémon. All of it was true and the emotional pain of it was detrimentally real._

_ The fact that Lucario didn't so much as give Wanderer a sideways glance further marred the light-furred Aura Pokémon. "_We both loved them like family! You, Sceptile, Tiny, and me! We were inseparable, us four! You and I are the only ones left, and yet you're willing to sacrifice yourself—_"_

_ "_Shut up and_ think _for once!_" Lucario snarled out of impatience._

_ Wanderer temporarily stopped breathing when Lucario barked at it._

"One of us has to stay behind in order to stall Giovanni, so that everyone else can escape without interruption! I'm _blessing_ you with vital time, time which you're squandering over by _bawling_!"

_ "(*Sniff*)" Wanderer was unsympathetically silenced because Lucario struck a critical point in this imperative situation._

_ "…" Underneath the visor of his battle armor, Lucario's eyes glowed briefly before the cargo helicopter's side door closed telekinetically. Lucario chose not to say another word to Wanderer, knowing that he had unrestrictedly wounded the light-furred Aura Pokémon's emotions._

_ And with that, Dusknoir immediately punched the engine of the cargo helicopter, having the twin-rotary blades revolve harder, lifting it higher. Lucario, standing directly beneath the cargo helicopter, was unmoved—except for his shuffling fur—by the gale produced. Dusknoir dexterously steered the massive vehicle out of the exit and _away_ from Team Rocket Main Headquarters._

* * *

><p>(End of Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"When should we become visible?" Latias inquired.

"_When you see me swivel my ears a few times,_" Lucario gives a brief demonstration of this action by swiveling his ears away from each other and stationing behind his head, and then repeating it a few more times.

His comrades nodded in agreement and remain as they are, beside the cargo helicopter.

Lucario proceeds over towards where his colleagues were located. His friends watched on from their location, waiting for his signal and watching on at what Lucario had set himself on doing.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Mirage Island (Open Field)<span>

Time: 5:55 PM

"Come on, Wanderer," Aqua spoke to the light-furred Aura Pokémon. "You should look on the bright side."

"_...Like what?_" Wanderer spoke feebly, crying to itself in its fetal position.

"For all we know, Xeno actually _defeated_ Giovanni."

"…" Wanderer appeared unchanged by Aqua's hypothesis, dubious of that outcome.

Aqua looked at all the other Pokémon around it and made a few body gestures, signaling them to join in on attempting to soothe the melancholy Aura Pokémon.

Terra was the first to step in.

"…Yeah. Xeno defeated Giovanni, killed him, and brought an end to Team Rocket," The Mach Pokémon said with artificial enthusiasm.

Luxray followed suit.

"Xeno has likely escaped from their Main Headquarters building and is on its way over here right now."

Dusknoir decided to speak its mind.

"_It'll likely come over here when we least expect it and say something gratifying, such as—_"

"_I see you're all in good health, everyone,_" Lucario said when he was directly behind Dusknoir's back. "_I'm relieved to know that you all escaped in one piece._"

"_Precisely! Something like—_"

Everyone turned their attention over to the dark-furred Aura Pokémon that stood before them. The sight of him—in the living flesh—before their presence immediately filled them with an emotional blend of euphoria and respite.

Everybody, except for the emotionally-shackled Tyranitar, whom looked at the Aura Pokémon from the shoreline and thought "(So, you're still alive…)" with a small grin as it continued to ingest the Liechi Berries it held.

And everybody, except for Wanderer, whom just rolled over to see Lucario with its bloodshot eyes, in too much disbelief to behold what exists before it.

The remaining Pokémon flocked over to their leader, some of them hugging him—being careful to avoid Lucario's lethal chest-spike in the process—, overjoyed that he's returned.

Tyranitar, once it finished eating its Liechi Berries, proceeded over to Lucario during the middle of this euphoric commotion. "How did you escape from Giovanni's stronghold?" It asked with cynicism in its tone of voice.

Lucario, once he had a chance to speak between hugs, had this to say.

"_I made his hellfire freeze over._"

Lairon, whom remained emotionally stagnant and close to Lucario's feet, looked up at the Aura Pokémon and muttered "…Is he still alive?"

Lucario knelt down to one knee, to Lairon's level of height. "_It's a possibility, since I left after using SHEER COLD on him._"

Before anyone could speak to the contrary of this, Lucario got back on both feet and reassured them.

"_However, if he—or his organization—ever returns before us, we won't hold back on obliterating both Giovanni and Team Rocket._"

Everybody nodded in agreement to his words.

Lucario looks at his fellow colleagues and quickly notices that Wanderer is not here to acknowledge his return. He looks around himself to see where the light-furred Aura Pokémon resided, and notices that Wanderer was upright, standing behind the rest of the Pokémon, wiping the tears from its eyes and doing its best to repair the shattered pieces of its composure.

_Always on My Mind/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD2 - Kingdom Hearts OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Lucario steps forward and away from his fellow colleagues, approaching Wanderer simultaneously. He stops when the distance separating them both is minor. He looks at the light-furred Aura Pokémon with an apologetic look in his eyes.

Wanderer removed most of his moisture from his face; however the fur on his cheeks were still soggy from his own tears. He set his arms down and ogled Lucario with swollen red eyes and a glum facial expression.

Lucario begins to scratch the back of his neck with his left paw. "_Listen… About what happened back at Team Rocket…"_

He stops scratching, but doesn't remove his paw from the back of his neck. Instead, he looks away from Wanderer and upward towards the sky, looking into his mind rather than the setting sun or the orange sky and its crimson clouds.

"_I was feeling constricted of time, and I only wanted to see all of you escape while simultaneously making sure that Giovanni wasn't acting against you. I only had your physical safekeeping in mind, and I reluctantly spoke in the manner that I did in order to—_"

_(Song Becomes Euphoric)_

Wanderer, when Lucario was unaware, suddenly embraced the Aura Pokémon with both arms. It had its torso shifted over to its right side, and said torso _leaned_ over to its right side, so neither Pokémon's chest-spikes were harming each other inadvertently. Also, because both Pokémon's heights differ greatly—Wanderer is 3' 11" and Lucario is 5' 02" or 5' 09" if his ears are included—, Wanderer's head barely reached the top of Lucario's collarbone.

"_What are you—?_"

"_I no longer care about that, having taken the time to think it over,_" it said truthfully, bawling once again as it had Lucario within its paws. "_I'm just ecstatic that you're alive and here, with all of us again._"

Lucario, knowing now that his primary reason for apologizing has now been made void, simply took advantage of the emotional reunion and hugged Wanderer back. Tears overflowed his eyes, but they never made his breathing shallow.

_(Song Becomes Peaceful)_

Everybody else clumped alongside both embraced Aura Pokémon, feeling overjoyed enough to know that a group hug was greatly needed for this time. Everybody found a place in this cluster, and hugged each other with peaceful looks in their countenances.

Even Tyranitar joined in on the group hug, mostly because it felt left out. However, it didn't exactly smile at doing so. Nevertheless, it did find this reunion touching and deep down within its heart, it was feeling as much joy as everybody else. That joy, however, never cut through the rocky exterior that Tyranitar possesses and became present before those watching.

_(Song Ends)_

All of the Pokémon disbanded after enough time passed during the hug. The first Pokémon to speak up was Dusknoir, whom had a question in its mind that it desired an answer to.

"_How in Arceus's name did you arrive here?_"

The words of the Gripper Pokémon lit up the attention of the other Pokémon.

"Dusknoir's right," Charmeleon said. "I doubt that—even with your current abilities—you can cross the sea."

"You can't FLY great distances either." Terra spoke from knowledge of Lucario's abilities, and the experience it has with flying—since it can FLY at Mach 1.

"How did you even know we were here, on Mirage Island?" Aqua wondered.

Before Lucario decided to answer their questions, he swiveled his ears a few times, and pointed over to the cargo helicopter. "_Look over there,_" he said.

And immediately, once he did so, everybody sees six Pokémon approaching them, originating from behind the cargo helicopter. They see a levitating Beldum, with a Torchic perched on its head. They see a jolly Latias and an annoyed Latios. They also see a Sceptile—with a missing right arm, a surplus of burn scars, and a buster sword strapped onto its back—as well as an Absol—with a nonexistent left eye and a black bandana around its mouth.

"_The Eon Pokémon pair guided me here,_" Lucario said simply.

Lucario's colleagues see Latias smiling widely for hearing Lucario give it credit, and they also see Latios looking at its sister with an irritated countenance.

Wanderer quickly locks its eyes at the one-armed Forest Pokémon and is gradually filling up with disbelief, dubious that this Sceptile is _the_ Sceptile that it recalls having perished in a Poison-Type Pokémon's cluster detonation, and simultaneously _hopeful_ that it is.

It knew that the only way to find out is to ask.

"_…Xeno?_" It said without looking away at the Forest Pokémon. "_Is that…Sceptile?_"

"_Yes, it is,_" Lucario reassured his friend. "_Sceptile actually managed to survive the explosion that we both believed ended him._"

Lucario paused temporarily to observe the Forest Pokémon in better detail, eyeing Sceptile's lack of its right arm.

"_Or at least…_most_ of it…_" He grinned slightly and chuckled afterward.

"Oh, ha hah… Make fun of the crippled burn victim, why don't you." Sceptile laughed hollowly at Lucario's dark humor and then approaches Lucario's colleagues, beginning to get to know them.

Beldum and Torchic—as well as Latias and Latios—decide to mimic Sceptile's choice of actions and begin to cement their friendship alongside Lucario's friends.

Both Lucario and Wanderer watched on at this get-together of Pokémon—Wanderer standing on Lucario's right side. And as Wanderer watched on longer at Lucario's new friends, the questions it had about them entered its mind.

"_That Beldum and Torchic…_" Wanderer began. "_Where did they come from?_"

Lucario began to explain. "_They discreetly watched my fight with Giovanni and followed me wherever I went after I escaped from Team Rocket Main Headquarters. They followed me to Celadon Forest, where I decided to stroll across Memory Lane. They desired to train alongside me, and didn't seem to care when I told them that they would be inadvertently placing their lives in jeopardy, since Team Rocket will likely pursue us vindictively after our rebellious actions._"

Wanderer took a moment to absorb the information, and then recalled Sceptile again. "_In Celadon Forest, is that where you reunited with Sceptile?_"

Lucario nodded. "_It never decided to leave its home. The events that took place when Team Rocket captured us—as well as the time afterward—proved too stressful for Sceptile to handle. First it had its home and right arm obliterated, then it had Tiny…_perish_ before its eyes, and finally it assumed that we no longer existed on this world. It drove the residential Pokémon away because of its emotions. That sword that it acquired kept any living being at bay._"

Lucario then recalled his brawl with the Forest Pokémon.

"_…Or any _intruder_ six feet under the earth._"

Wanderer took another moment to assimilate Lucario's words. It then recalled Tiny, knowing well enough that it wasn't here with them.

"_Tiny's dead…isn't it…_" Wanderer's voice became somber.

Lucario simply sighed and looked at the darkening sky, deciding not to delve deeper into such a painful realization.

Wanderer, deciding to change the subject _immediately_, so as not to cry again, quickly looked at the Eon Pokémon pair and pointed one of the digits of his right paw at them. "_Where did you find those two?_"

"_They found _me." Lucario corrected. "_They say that they've been observing me for some time now. However, to be honest with you, I just believe that they're both enigmas. I can't even read their minds to know what they're thinking about. Their psychic powers are enough to buffer my own._"

Wanderer attempted to focus its extrasensory capabilities towards the minds of the Eon Pokémon, only to find that it was quickly blocked off of unauthorized mental access.

"_Do you understand what I mean?_" Lucario noticed Wanderer's attempt.

"_Yes, I do._"

"_I don't know what they're thinking, or what they're planning._" Lucario said calmly. "_However, I can rest easy, knowing that it's something beneficial or honorable._"

"_You can tell that from the time you've spent with them?_"

Lucario shook his head. "_No. I speculate my hypothesis only from their overall character._"

Wanderer paid closer attention to the Eon Pokémon, their behavior in particular. It noticed that Latias was blithe, ebullient, and full of life. It was always smiling as it conversed with Lucario's ex-Team Rocket colleagues, being the emotional spotlight of the group. Latios however, it was more composed and unyielding as it conversed. It always had a serious, monotone facial expression, which would show signs of annoyance or impatience habitually. It never showed the same level of positive emotion or energy as its red-colored sister counterpart did, nor Latias showed the same level of negative emotion or energy as its blue-colored brother equivalent.

"_Huh…I see what you mean._"

During the middle of their conversation, Absol—who never entered the throng of Pokémon in order to make its presence known—decided to sit down adjacent to Wanderer, watching on at the Pokémon equally, as both Wanderer and Xeno were doing. It never made eye contact with either Aura Pokémon, deliberately doing so in order to get their attention first.

And receive their attention, it did.

"_So…_you're _still alive…_" Wanderer looked at the Disaster Pokémon, feigning astonishment and speaking in a disappointed tone.

"And you still recognize me after sixteen years of absence." Absol remarked with bone dry audacity, before locking eye-to-eyes with Wanderer.

"_Wanderer, Absol has had a change of heart, as hard as it is to believe because of its past actions._" Lucario explained behind the light-furred Aura Pokémon's back. "_Latias saved its life from the near-death condition that I inflicted upon it during our battle. Afterwards, Latias helped it realign its life and has been its closest friend ever since._"

Absol looked at the dark-furred Aura Pokémon with a sense of its privacy being broken. "How long have you been reading my mind during our trip over here?"

"_Enough to know what you've been up to in your nonexistence,_" Lucario said with honesty.

"I suppose I would've told you everything anyway…" Absol digressed before looking back at Wanderer, turning its body this time in order to properly face the light-furred Aura Pokémon. "Anyway, as your friend said earlier, I've had a change of heart and decided to repent for my terrible actions. I'm hoping that, just like Xeno Lucario, you'll give me a second chance and allow me to prove myself that there's both hope and nobleness in me."

Absol, as it did so before with Xeno, extended its right paw outward to Wanderer.

"Can you find it in your justified heart to forgive me?" Absol's tone of voice almost became beseeching as it concluded.

"_…_" Wanderer's eyes locked onto Absol's paw. It ponders Absol's newfound being, as well as its words and wonders if all of it is _truly_ honest, being considerably doubtful if it was genuinely truthful or manifestly deceptive.

"_Just so you know, Absol _is_ speaking the truth,_" Lucario said as it was discreetly reading Wanderer's mind.

Wanderer looked back at Absol's face and could see the honesty, the truth in its countenance—despite the fact that Absol was missing its left eye and had its entire mouth concealed with a black bandana. Seeing this, Wanderer extended its right paw outward, reaching out to shake Absol's paw and accepting its plea for forgiveness.

However, as it occurred before with Xeno, Wanderer evaded Absol's right paw and instead faced the palm of its right paw directly before Absol's forehead.

Absol, seeing Wanderer's palm placed almost directly on its forehead, knew well enough what was going to come next.

"Oh fu—"

Wanderer delivered a FORCE PALM attack directly on Absol's face with enough potency to not only knock it back about fifteen feet, but also forcefully remove the black bandana that it wore around its mouth. The lack of lips became known to Wanderer, the instance that it noticed it—as well as the group of Pokémon that heard the blast of aura energy.

Wanderer retracts its paw back to its side and smiles faintly. "_Apology accepted,_" it said, satisfied with its single act of revenge.

Absol, once the pain settled in, covered its entire face with its paws and began rolling spastically on the grassy floor below. "Oh Arceus, I think you broke something!" It moaned in pain.

"_Don't worry. We'll get used to Absol,_" Lucario reassured Wanderer before grinning evilly. "_…Eventually._"

Wanderer nodded with an evil grin as well, already thinking up methods as to get even with the Disaster Pokémon.

"I think I have a concussion!" Absol continued, moments before Latias approached it and tended to its wellbeing.

* * *

><p><em><span>20.3: As the Weeks Become the Months Become the Years<span>_

A few days were spent on Mirage Island by the group of fifteen Pokémon—Absol, Aqua Lapras, Beldum, Charmeleon, Dusknoir, Lairon, Latias, Latios, Luxray, Sceptile, Torchic, Terra Garchomp, Tyranitar, Wanderer Lucario, and Xeno Lucario.

The time was spent alongside _all_ of the Pokémon that most of the group liberated from Team Rocket Main Headquarters. They discussed where each and every one of the hundreds of Pokémon live—or _desire_ to live now—and where they should travel first to return them home.

In the end, Team Liberator came to this conclusion: those who wish to return home will get priority over those who wish to live in a new location; however those who reside closer to their current location—as it is, or desire to relocate to someplace new—will be relocated first, and will progress farther and farther as such.

A few of the liberated Pokémon—mostly Water-Type Pokémon—even decide to reside on Mirage Island, finding the island's foliage, scenery, and wildlife to be appealing and peaceful.

Before leaving Mirage Island, a proper funeral was paid in respects to Tiny, the Emanation Pokémon whose life was cut short by the same organization that abducted them. Team Liberator paid their respects during the funeral. Lucario, Sceptile, and Wanderer spoke more about Tiny, since they knew it as a close friend.

Absol however, spoke more than either of them, demonstrating its "Speaker for the Dead" skills before everybody. It began with the first moment that it met Tiny, admitting the monstrous actions that it committed to Tiny's group of Riolu, and continued with the clashes that they had. It ended with the explosion that devastated Tiny's body, before the Emanation Pokémon perished peacefully within Sceptile's left arm. All of this information was asked for beforehand, so that Absol saw Tiny's full biography.

The Pokémon listening on at Absol showed sufficient signs of respect and self-control, never insulting the choices that the Disaster Pokémon regretted doing in its life. Even the three Pokémon that had the most difficulty adapting to Absol's new persona—Lucario, Sceptile and Wanderer—listened on as Absol recited Tiny's life before them, meshing its connections with the Emanation Pokémon's.

They knew now, more than ever, that Absol had _decisively_ changed for the better, and truly deserves a second chance. And that second chance was one that they three of them—along with every Pokémon in their group—would grant to the Disaster Pokémon.

Once the funeral ended, both Latias and Latios left the party, vaguely saying that they'll return when they're needed, leaving Team Liberator puzzled.

Next thing in the morning, the cargo helicopter journeyed away from Mirage Island, leaving behind the Pokémon that decided to stay on the secluded piece of exposed land. Team Liberator stopped by various locations scattered across the globe, releasing the captive Pokémon where they desired. On each and every location, a sufficient amount of time was spent strengthening the abilities of the released Pokémon, so as to fortify their chances of _not_ being re-captured.

The plain process of flying over to the next nearest destination, releasing the captured Pokémon, strengthening the Pokémon, and repeating the sequence until their task was complete took much longer than expected.

Overall, Team Liberator spent _eight years, six months, and sixteen days_ in completing Phase Three of Team Liberator's Plan—and that's including the few days spent on Mirage Island in order to decide what to do and where to go from there. Of course, that time was considered well spent by all of the Pokémon in Team Liberator, because it benefitted them in the long run.

During that time, all of the Pokémon within Team Liberator—that were still _capable_ of evolution—successfully evolved one stage in their development. Both Lairon and Charmeleon finalized their stages of growth, becoming an Aggron and a Charizard. And both Torchic and Beldum progressed in their evolutionary line, becoming a Combusken and a Metang. Everyone else remained unchanged in appearance, but changed somewhat in their experience and maturity.

_**(National Pokédex entry #306: Aggron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. It is a Rock-Type and Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 6' 11" and weighs a hefty 793.7 lbs. While seeking iron for food, it digs tunnels by breaking through bedrock with its steel horns. Despite this phenomenal display of strength however, Aggron virtually **_**unanimously**_** favors defense over offense.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #006: Charizard, the Flame Pokémon. It is a Fire-Type and Flying-Type Pokémon that measures in at 5' 07" and weighs in at approximately 199.5 lbs. It is said that Charizard's fire burns hotter if it has experienced harsh battles. However, due to the pacifistic nature of **_**this**_** Charizard, that is not the case.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry # 256: Combusken, the Young Fowl Pokémon. It is a Fighting-Type and Fire-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 11" and weighs approximately 43.0 lbs. It's kicking mastery lets it loose 10 kicks per second. It emits sharp cries to intimidate foes. However, being able to kick faster than the eye can see, it really isn't necessary to intimidate opponents.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #375: Metang, the Iron Claw Pokémon. It is a Psychic-Type and Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 3' 11" and weighs a bulky 446.4 lbs. It is formed by two Beldum joining together. Its steel body won't be scratched if it collides with a jet. With such density to this Pokémon, it's no wonder that it can withstand such forceful blows.)**_

Once the final phase of Xeno's plan at hand was completed, the name "Team Liberator" was officially ended. Afterwards, the group had difficulty deciding what to do next, having done set tasks for years. However, Wanderer recalled Spear Pillar, and the prophecy that lay inscribed on one of its fragmented pillars.

With nothing else to do, everybody set a course towards Mt. Coronet, utilizing the cargo helicopter that has lasted them for so long to transport them there.

* * *

><p><em><span>20.4: Spear Pillar's Prophecy<span>_

Location: Mt. Coronet (Spear Pillar)

Date: April 2nd, 2019

Time: 11:29 AM

Xeno Lucario _alone_ proceeded through the internal network of caves that reside within Mt. Coronet, navigating through with only the helpful battle armor that he had on his body, Sceptile's buster sword strapped onto his back, as well as a brand new utility belt that contained the Poké Balls of every Pokémon in his party—including Absol, whom is now contained within a Moon Ball.

"(Not even the Pokémon who _resided_ here wished to continue living here,)" Lucario thought, pondering the Pokémon that Team Rocket captured from this location before they were liberated by his doing. "(We could've come here _years_ sooner if even _one_ Pokémon decided to live here.)"

Lucario hopped across the cliffs that Mt. Coronet had within its caves, swam across the internal lakes that resided within the caverns, and braved his way across the harsh blizzards that separated many of the fissures from each other, all in a driven effort to reach the summit.

Once he had reached the summit, he simply navigated his way through one last cave in order to reach the entrance of Spear Pillar. The entrance—as both Mewtwo and Wanderer last saw it—was caved in by boulders and seemingly impassable.

Lucario, utilizing PSYCHIC, had all twelve of the Poké Balls in his possession dispatch from his utility belt, and revolve around his body in the form of two rings with six Poké Balls in each.

One by one, he telekinetically released each and every one of his comrades from their capsules: Absol from its Moon Ball, Aggron from its Heavy Ball, Aqua Lapras from its Net Ball, Charizard from its Level Ball, Combusken from its Friend Ball, Dusknoir from its Dusk Ball, Luxray from its Nest Ball, Metang from its Ultra Ball, Sceptile from its Luxury Ball, Terra Garchomp from its Quick Ball, Tyranitar from its Premier Ball, and Wanderer Lucario from its Great Ball.

All of the Pokémon emerged in tandem, and once they were all out in the open, Lucario returned the Poké Balls to his respective utility belt with PSYCHIC and handed Sceptile its buster sword.

"_We all know what to do,_" Lucario said simply to his party.

Everybody understood and faced the entrance to Spear Pillar, immediately noticing the monumental amount of boulders that blocked off the entrance. And with their combined strength and attributes, they removed the obstructions with relative ease.

And now, with the entrance to Spear Pillar ameliorated, everybody proceeded across.

_Spear Pillar/Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Soundtrack/Hitomi Sato, Junichi Masuda_

_(Song Begins)_

All of the Pokémon look and meander around the place, observing this location to its fullest. They all attempt to locate the specific pillar that Wanderer recalls having a prophecy inscribed on it. However, with hundreds of them around the place—some of which have crumbled onto the floor—, _all_ of which are inscribed with the language of the Unown, the task would prove daunting.

"_Wanderer, which of the pillars is the one with the prophecy?_" Lucario asked as he searched.

Wanderer observed all of the fragmented pillars, recalling that it was that type of pillar that had the prophecy inscribed on it. "_It's on one of the fragmented pillars._"

Everybody simplified their search to the fragmented pillars. However, since only Wanderer knew the language—as did Lucario if he utilized the language translator function of his battle armor's visor—, their searched proved somewhat worthless.

Thankfully, Wanderer searched through its memory to recall the _exact_ location of the crumbled pillar, and quickly proceeded over to it.

"_It's this one!_" It shouted. "_The one that's most fragmented!_"

Quickly, everybody homed in on Wanderer's location. Those who were able to use telekinetic abilities—Aqua, Dusknoir, Metang, and Sceptile—used PSYCHIC to gather all of the fragmented pieces and connect them as they once were. With the pillar temporarily made whole again, both Wanderer and Xeno began to decipher the language, one with his helmet's built-in translation software, and the other with its acquired knowledge of the exotic language.

The language of the Unown inscribed on that pillar duplicated itself onto Lucario's visor and presented itself there on-screen, before his sharp eyes. Once there, the software installed within the computer system of Xeno's helmet began to cycle through known languages in its memory banks to begin translation. The software immediately locked on to the English language and translated the language of the Unown to it, its twenty-six letter alphabet and countless more symbols classified within the language closely matching that of the twenty-eight known symbols of the Unown.

This message immediately became visible for him to read, once all of the symbols of the Unown were replaced with closely-similar letters of the English alphabet—with the addition of the acute in the letter "e" in "Pokémon" for grammatical reasons. Simultaneously, Wanderer did what Xeno's software did for him, all within its mind, with the knowledge that it had acquired on the language because of its past experiences.

IT SHALL BE BESTOWED WITH THE KEY TO UNLOCKING THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF POKÉMON.

IT SHALL BE THE CATALYST TO SHATTERING THE LIMIT OF FOUR MOVES.

IT SHALL KNOW UNFATHOMABLE POWER THAT WILL RIVAL THE ORIGINAL ONE.

IT SHALL PREVENT THE WORLD FROM FALLING INTO THE VOID OF THE DARK ONE.

_(Song Ends Abruptly)_

Underneath the visor, Lucario's eyes widened and he could feel his heart beat harder, but not faster. The pure realization of what the prophecy meant shook his senses to the core and rendered him in disbelief.

"_The prophecy inscribed on the pillar…_" Lucario muttered. "_…is referring to…_me."

Before Lucario—or anyone else within his party—could make sense of what this meant, a red laser beam immediately appeared behind Lucario's head, gradually converting his entire being into pure sanguine energy.

Quickly, everyone puts their full attention to Lucario—which caused the pillar to collapse once more from a lack of concentration. They see Lucario frozen in place, contemplating the fact that the red laser was fired from the _only person _who possesses his respective Poké Ball.

"_Giovanni fired his laser at me…didn't he?_" Lucario said meekly.

Half of his party nodded at him.

Lucario only has enough time to sigh before his entire being—excluding his battle armor and utility belt—is assimilated into Giovanni's "Team Rocket's Poké Ball". Lucario's possessions collapsed onto the floor, his battle armor bouncing once or twice and resonating metallically on the stone floor before remaining stagnant. Afterwards, Giovanni makes his presence known to Xeno's party by entering Spear Pillar from the entrance that they cleared open.

Before them, they see Giovanni, iron clad in _his_ battle armor, stepping slowly towards them until he is within twenty feet of them.

"The prophecy inscribed on that pillar," he spoke through the microphone within his visor. "I've known about it for years, which is why I had it shattered, so that no one else would understand it."

Giovanni sees the crumbled pillar within the corner of his visor and looks back at Lucario's party.

"However, in retrospect, I probably should've had it better obliterated, leaving behind no former trace of its existence."

He then looks at the "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" that he held within his armored right hand, imagining a shackled dark-furred Aura Pokémon residing within it, as if he were Giovanni's personal bitch, a tool that he could use in his goals for eventual global conquest.

"Then again, it no longer matters, because the Pokémon prophesized now belongs to me. And with its power—once I've assimilated it—, I will have the world kneel before me."

Every one of Lucario's Pokémon formed a battle stance, willing to fight to have their friend back beside them.

Giovanni simply chuckled to himself. "You all have no idea how insignificant you are compared to me. I can kill you all in one fell—"

Giovanni suddenly stopped talking when he felt his right hand resonate heavily. He looked at his hand and noticed the "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" in his possession rattle fiercely, Xeno within there fighting his way out of Giovanni's capsule prison.

Against Giovanni's plans, "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" opened, Lucario having successfully broken free of it. He reemerged and rematerialized amongst his friends once more, using PSYCHIC to have his battle armor and utility belt return onto his being within seconds.

Before Giovanni could even make sense of Lucario escaping from his respective Poké Ball, the dark-furred Aura Pokémon reacted faster than him and utilized the same telekinetic abilities to remove Giovanni's held Poké Ball from his grasp. Now "Team Rocket's Poké Ball" hovered over to Lucario's utility belt. Once in his possession and safely stored within his utility belt, Lucario formed a battle stance alongside his comrades, recalling well enough that the next time he saw Giovanni, it was to sign his death warrant, using Giovanni's blood _itself_ as the ink.

Giovanni remained paused and immobile, trying to comprehend how quickly events backfired for him. However, that all quickly changed when Giovanni's mind became filled with martial intent.

"You've caused me enough grief when you escaped from my HQ building those years ago." Giovanni spoke darkly to the group of Pokémon before him. "And now that the both of us are here in the same place…"

The area of battle armor around Giovanni's left and right shoulders suddenly began to extend and transmogrify into the Triple Threat weapons that he had in their last encounter. The only difference this time is that there are now _two_ of them, each of them set on Gatling Mode, armed, whirring madly, and aimed at Xeno and his friends. Also, Giovanni's hands clenched tight and began to emanate a large amount of aura, fueled by the complicated mimicry capabilities of his battle armor, as well as his personal vendetta with Xeno. He formed a battle stance once he was set for battle.

"…I'm going to enjoy eviscerating each and every one of you bastards with lead and aura."

Before the battle began, the entire space within the vicinity flashed a bright white light, blinding everybody within the area. Once the light receded—and the eyes of the victims recovered—, Spear Pillar adopted a different color scheme.

Everything inside of the room suddenly appeared as different shades of blue. The mere flash of light was enough to discombobulate Giovanni and his enemy Pokémon.

However, before they could make sense of it, _another_ flash of white light appeared, blinding everybody once more. Once the light faded away again, everybody (eventually) saw Spear Pillar adopt a new, sudden change of color scheme. The room, along with its current residents, adopted a hodgepodge of purple.

"What the hell is going on?" Giovanni wondered, astonished by the abnormal color transmogrification of Spear Pillar.

All of the Pokémon were equally as confused as he was. They did not know what to make of this abnormal phenomenon.

The same white light flashed thrice. And once it faded, there was no longer any color alteration of the locality. Instead, between both opposing sides of human and Pokémon, _two_ rifts in space began to form on the ground. One of them is a dim shade of blue, and the other is a pale shade of purple.

From within these rifts, two different Pokémon of massive proportions began to rise out of them, hovering gradually higher into the air.

The Pokémon appearing out of the blue rift is physically structured like a sauropod. It is mostly dark blue in appearance, with black eyes that had red irises within them. However, certain parts of its quadruped body were metallic grey in color. Those parts included its broad crest that stretches all the way to the back of its head, its chest plate—that possesses a blue diamond in the center—, its three spines on the back of its long neck, its long claws, and its uncanny wing-like structure on its back. It has two horns on the top of its head, as well as two "fangs" on the sides of its jaws. Alongside this, it also possesses light-blue stripes across its body: around its head and neck, all four legs and hind thighs, and all around its stout tail.

The Pokémon appearing out of the purple rift is mostly light purple in appearance, with the body of a theropod, and a similar set of eyes as the Pokémon beside it. On its body, it possesses stripes that are a darker shade of purple, as well as pale gray arm undersides and waist. It has round, purple-striped "plates" on its shoulders, each imbued with two pink pearls within their centers, both of which are surrounded by a gray rim. It has fin-like wings on its back, as well as gauntlet-like extensions on its arms—with purple bands of coloration on the back of its wrists. Finally, it has a long neck, a pointed white crest on the crown of its head—which extends to its fin-like wings—, two horn-like "tusks" on the sides of its jaws, as well as a powerful tail.

Their names—in order of entrance description—are Dialga and Palkia. They're both Pokémon that are often called deities by the people that have described them in Sinnoh mythology. And now they've appeared before Giovanni and the opposing Pokémon.

_**(National Pokédex entry #483: Dialga, the Temporal Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at a massive 17' 09" and weighs in at a matchingly astonishing 1505.8 lbs. A legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh. It is said that time flows when Dialga's heart beats. In a sense, it would seem plausible that the blood that runs through Dialga's cardiovascular system is time itself.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #484: Palkia, the Spacial Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and a Water-Type Pokémon that measures in at an impressive 13' 09" and wighs in at a mighty 740.8 lbs. A legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh. It is said that space becomes more stable with Palkia's every breath. In a sense, it is plausible that everything in existence exists thanks to its respiatory system.)**_

_Battle! Dialga & Palkia/Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Soundtrack/Hitomi Sato, Junichi Masuda_

_(Song Begins)_

The rifts below them closed and dissipated, once their feet were no longer within those abnormalities in space. They gently landed back onto solid ground, and observed the current beings that they loomed tall over: Dialga ogling Giovanni and Palkia scanning Xeno Lucario and his posse.

The life that both Pokémon deities observed all shared the same thing in common: they were all flabbergasted by their sudden entrance. Everybody knew what both Pokémon were capable of, and couldn't pinpoint the key reason as to why both Dialga and Palkia decided to appear from their respective dimensions.

However, Giovanni quickly digressed from this topic and contemplated their presence, and how, if he acted decisively, this could potentially _benefit_ him.

"(If I kill them now, and assimilate their power into my battle armor as my own without delay, I'll gain immediate mastery over space and time!)" Giovanni smiled within the visor of his helmet. "(With both traits, I'll gain decisive assets to my plans for global conquest!)"

Palkia looked away from the Pokémon group and locked its black and red eyes to the same metallically-encased man that Dialga was observing, sensing some mental hostility within him.

Giovanni's Triple Threat weapons—which are still set on Gatling Mode—quickly began to have their barrels revolve once more through powerful electric motors. The tips of the barrels were aimed at the face of Dialga, whom stared on at the human unfalteringly.

"Eat lead, deity fu—!" Giovanni's invective was quickly rendered mute by the loud, concentrated firing of his Triple Threat weapons.

As quickly as Giovanni made his attack, a rift in space opened directly between Dialga and Giovanni. The rift transported Giovanni's fired bullets into a different point in space, instantly rendering them useless once they entered and continued until their energy dissipated.

What Giovanni couldn't see—but the Pokémon below it _can_ see—was that Palkia's eyes, as well as the pearls on its round plate-like shoulders, were emanating a light purple aura. This was a sign that its powers of spacial warping were in effect.

Dialga, from behind the rift in space that Palkia conjured, activated its respective abilities of temporal warping. Once its eyes and the diamond on its chest plate emanated a dark blue aura, Giovanni's shoulder armaments were instantly frozen in time. The fact that they both became monochrome in color was proof enough of Dialga's chronological doing.

"What the hell?" Giovanni responded when his weapons no longer did.

Palkia's spacial rift faded away, along with its aura emanation, when the bullet storm subsided. The instant that it did, Giovanni eyed a stagnant Dialga, eyeing him with red eyes that were surrounded by a dark blue aura. Its face rocked left to right slowly, as if saying "you shouldn't have done that" with its body language.

Giovanni just took this as a challenge and continued to attack, not wishing to relinquish this chance of fate for great power. With his right arm, he began to conjure a massive AURA SPHERE. And once it was the size of a Watmel Berry, he jumped towards Dialga, AURA SPHERE held above his head, aimed at the Temporal Pokémon's face.

Palkia, still eyeing Giovanni, retaliated physically. It quickly swerved and sidestepped its way directly in front of Dialga, and with its tail focused with light purple aura, swatted Giovanni with DRAGON TAIL. The Spacial Pokémon swatted him hard, as if he were an insect, sending him flying high into the sky.

Lucario saw his former superior fly higher and higher into the sky, until the last thing that could be seen of Giovanni's presence was a brief glimmer of light.

"_Looks like Giovanni is_ _blasting off again,_" Lucario joked at this occurrence to his friends. "_Isn't he, every—?_"

Lucario silenced himself abruptly when he noticed that every single one of his colleagues was frozen in time, appearing monochrome in color scheme before him.

"_What in the world?_" Lucario said, looking left and right briefly at his friends, before looking at both Dialga and Palkia. He eyed Dialga especially, since its temporal powers ceased after it had frozen his friends in time, meaning that if it wanted to, it could leave them that way. "_What_ _have you done to them?_"

Both Legendary Pokémon look back at Lucario, the only Pokémon that was not targeted by Dialga's chronological cease. They proceed ominously forward, almost as if stalking him.

This quickly made Lucario uncomfortable.

"_We've been expecting you…_" Dialga said via telepathy.

"_…Pokémon of Prophecy._" Palkia did the same.

Lucario was made _more_ uncomfortable by their unusual choice of actions. "_Why did you stop my friends in time?_" He had trouble speaking for a moment.

"…" Both Pokémon remained silent, and simply ogled the Aura Pokémon openly.

Lucario quickly took their silence as a remark that they don't care at all. This made his paws tighten into fists, sparking significantly with aura. "_No response from either of you?_"

Lucario's posture quickly became combative, ready to fight both Pokémon.

Both Dialga and Palkia watched on at this, unchanged in posture or facial expression.

"_In that case, I'll just force you to _stop_ stopping them._"

Immediately after the Aura Pokémon spoke, he clasped both paws together, having them both spark and ignite large quantities of aura in the process. He separated his palms as the aura was gradually condensing between them into a sphere. The sphere grew larger as the aura was simultaneously condensing and expanding it, causing it to become a bright blue orb that was significantly different than his trademark AURA SPHERE technique.

Instead of AURA SPHERE, Lucario was utilizing a more powerful—albeit less _accurate_—technique in his ascending move set. He was using FOCUS BLAST.

Lucario launched the attack directly towards Dialga, knowing well enough the type matchup of his technique—Fighting-Type—and Dialga's attributes—Dragon-Type and _Steel_-Type—would work in his favor. The attack was fired straight and true, and would appear to land a direct hit on Dialga's face.

However, because of Palkia's current presence, it was there to fortify its fellow deity. The Spacial Pokémon's aura emanation resumed around its eyes and shoulder pearls, allowing it to distort space once more. With this ability, it created _two_ rifts in space—one single portal. The first rift was placed directly in front of Dialga, where the attack would enter. And the second rift was placed behind Dialga, where the attack would leave. Both rifts were angled upward, so that the attack would be launched towards the sky, where it would be instantly negated.

Lucario's FOCUS BLAST technique, because of Palkia's superiority over the physical space, simply passed _through_ Dialga, without so much as striking it. The attack, as it left the second rift and headed towards the sky, was immediately intercepted by Palkia, whom became airborne in order to catch it in its left hand.

With its free right hand, Palkia generated an AURA SPHERE of its _own_, a light purple sphere rather than the clear blue ones that Lucario can fabricate, of a size similar to Lucario's FOCUS BLAST. And with both Lucario's seized technique—as well as its respective AURA SPHERE—in hand, it fired them both simultaneously towards Lucario, through the _same exact_ portal that it conjured in defense for Dialga.

"(Son of a…)" Lucario came close to cursing at Palkia's abilities as it saw both attacks homing in on him, before he shielded his face by crossing his arms in front of it.

The attacks were fired with enough velocity that Lucario only had _just_ enough time to create his PROTECT bulwark, in order to render both attacks void. However, there was a price to pay with using PROTECT.

A dust cloud erupted upward, due to the explosive force that both attacks possessed, immediately blinding the entire vicinity surrounding Lucario. And before Lucario's PROTECT technique faded away on him, he resorted to utilizing his Aura Vision ability to identify the whereabouts of both Dialga and Palkia.

Lucario's bulwark faded, and he dropped his arms, lowering his guard somewhat when he noticed that Palkia remained airborne and within his sights. He also noticed that Palkia's aura dropped to normal levels, a sign that it disengaged its cosmic abilities for the moment.

However, Lucario's guard didn't disappear when he couldn't sense the presence of Dialga, whom disappeared from his sights.

It was clear to Lucario that Dialga had used its temporal powers to its advantage, having momentarily disappeared from present time and traveled briefly into the future.

"(…_When_ are you?)" Lucario thought, attempting to lock onto Dialga's aura signature, on the exact moment that it returns to this time.

As Lucario expected, Dialga _did_ return to this time, appearing directly _behind_ him. However, Lucario never accounted to the potency of its temporal powers.

To begin with, when Dialga emerged as soon as time had caught up to its chronological lead, it generated a powerful expulsion of air when its body pushed on the physical space that the breathable air had enveloped. This caused the dust to violently blast away with a loud snap in the air, immediately stunning Lucario stagnant—as well as dazing his sense of hearing.

Before Lucario could react, Dialga had quickly bent its long neck down to Lucario's height, tilted its head onto its side, opened its jaws wide, and _clamped_ down onto Lucario's torso. Its dental grip was tight on Lucario's chest plate, but not tight enough to pierce his armor—or his flesh.

It was almost as if Dialga only wanted to _restrain_ the Aura Pokémon.

However, Lucario wasn't having any of this, and decided to take advantage of this event. Lucario turned his upper body as best as he could, so that he could face Dialga's right side of its face. He quickly planted his right palm onto Dialga's face, directly below its eye, and used FORCE PALM to _shred_ the right side of Dialga's face. The damage that Dialga sustained onto its face immediately caused it to bite down in pain, which in turn _pierced_ both Lucario's chest plate, as well as his abdomen.

Both Pokémon roared in pain and dripped heavily in blood from each other's struggle, Dialga's blood falling onto the floor, and Lucario's blood collecting in Dialga's throat. The damage that Lucario sustained proved too great for his nervous system to tolerate, quickly causing him to lose consciousness and fall limp in Dialga's jaws. Dialga however, with the severe lacerations on its face that it sustained, didn't so much as stagger.

However, Dialga did retch a few times at tasting Xeno's blood, but never heaved or let go of the Aura Pokémon in the process.

_(Song Ends)_

Before both Dialga and Palkia, a _third_ rift in space formed on the ground, in similar fashion as to when they both appeared. However, the color of the rift was neither dark blue or light purple.

It was pitch black.

From within the rift, a _third_ massive Pokémon emerged, firing out of the rift as if it were a rocket, rather than slowly, as both Dialga and Palkia did.

This Pokémon has a large, grey, centipede-like body, possessing six short, stout legs. It has gold claws, as well as gold bands, on its legs. It has a long, grey tail, as well as a thick black stripe running vertically along the front of its neck and continued onto its underbelly. On that same black stripe, a series of red horizontal stripes run down, stopping before reaching the underbelly. On the back of its neck, there are three gold half-rings present, their tips connected by the red horizontal stripes. And on its back, there are two large, amorphous black wings, decorated with red, conical, claw-like objects, three on each wing.

This third Pokémon descended down onto the floor once the black rift that it conjured disappeared. The black aura emanating from its eyes dispersed as it flapped its wings before slowing its descent and hitting the floor with the soles of its feet. With eyes similar to Dialga's and Palkia's, it ogled both Pokémon, as well as the Lucario that was bleeding and unconscious in Dialga's jaws.

"_You've arrived…Giratina._" Palkia said upon looking at the Pokémon.

_**(National Pokédex entry #487: Giratina, the Renegade Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and a Ghost-Type Pokémon that measures in at a massive 14' 09" (Altered Forme) or 22' 08" (Origin Forme) and weighs in at an earth-trembling 1653.5 lbs (Altered Forme) or 1433.0 lbs (Origin Forme). It was banished for its violence. It silently gazed upon the old world from the Distortion World. That world has given Giratina two forms: its Altered Forme and Origin Forme, both of which switch as it enters and leaves the Distortion World.)**_

"_I am…_" Giratina responded to Palkia's speech, before looking at Dialga, as well as the Lucario in its mouth. "_Is that the Pokémon of Prophecy?_"

"_Yes it is._" Dialga spoke without using its mouth, which was presently dripping blood from both itself and Lucario every other second. "_I can tell just by the taste of its blood._"

Palkia looked at the Aura Pokémon in Dialga's jaws, noticing how limp it had become. "_You didn't _kill_ it, did you?_"

Dialga shook its head side to side, causing Lucario's limp arms, legs, and neck to do so as well. "_Despite having sustained a punctured stomach, it is capable of sustaining injury far greater than what I've inflicted upon it._"

Giratina began walking off towards the entrance of Spear Pillar. "_I would expect as much._"

Both Palkia and Dialga followed behind the Renegade Pokémon. Giratina stopped about ten feet from the entrance to Spear Pillar, and Dialga and Palkia stopped within the same distance as well. To Giratina's left, Dialga stood ready. To Giratina's right, Palkia remained on stand-by.

The three of them emanated their respective auras simultaneously—dark blue for Dialga, pitch black for Giratina, and light purple for Palkia—and created a solitary rift in space with their combined power. Each of the three Pokémon applied their specific abilities in order to create this rift in space: Dialga set the time, Palkia set the location, and Giratina set the _dimension_.

In doing so, the rift opened up directly above a location on a parallel Earth, set to the time of December 1st, 59 A.D., on a remote village placed in the middle of a desert and beside a coastline.

With haste, Dialga released its grasp on Xeno and tossed him into the portal. The Aura Pokémon entered the portal—equipped with the titanium-crystalline alloy battle armor that Giovanni had manufactured for him, as well as the individual Poké Balls for his party and himself—and descended downward towards the remote village, freefalling because of the height that they conjured the portal for it to remain unnoticed to the human citizens below.

The rift in space immediately vanished when all three Pokémon negated their powers.

"_The time has come to fulfill the prophecy._" Dialga began.

"_Xeno, you are the only one who has the power to do so._" Palkia continued.

"_And stop it from falling into the Void of the Dark One._" Giratina concluded.

* * *

><p>"No matter how strong or smart you are, there's always somebody stronger or smarter, and when you run into somebody whose stronger and smarter than anybody, you think, 'This is a god. This is perfection'." —Orson Scott Card (412) (Xenocide)<p>

* * *

><p>Once again, I've thrown in a plot twist that I'm sure no one has seen coming. I can assure you though that, in time, everything that is occurring will make sense.<p>

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've going to now play the hell out of _Pokemon Black 2._ As I stand, I've just past Castelia City's Gym, and I'm enjoying every second of it.


	21. Chapter XV (15)

Hit Count: 3,575

Huh... Why does it feel like an eternity since I last updated "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_"?

...

...Actually, I can think of a few reasons.

Firstly, I've been playing my copy of _Pokémon Black 2_ on a daily basis, having invested almost 150 hours into it at this point, and will probably DOUBLE that in a couple of months. And during the time between my last update and this one, I've been busy getting things together after I had beaten the game three weeks after it firstly came out on launch day (not bad in my part, I suppose).

After beating the Elite Four and then exploring the rest of the post-game area, I then traded over almost ALL of the Pokémon in my _Pokémon White_ game, to the point where I had filled up about 97% of my boxes. Basically, I traded over ALL of the Pokémon from #001-#493, including Unown's alternate forms (which I have a seperate box exclusively for), and the vast majority of Unova's Pokémon as well, but only if I don't have it in _Pokémon Black 2_ or couldn't hurt having a second of (such as the Legendary Pokémon). And in doing so, my Pokédex now says that I've captured 630 Pokémon, and have seen 648 of them! The remaining Pokémon that I need to capture to obtain both of those charms from Professor Juniper (the Oval Charm and Shiny Charm) can easily be obtained through Wi-Fi, but the last Pokémon that I need to complete my Pokédex (Meloetta) has yet to be unveiled in an event. I don't need Meloetta in order to obtain both of those charms, but I still want it for pride's sake nevertheless, and when the next main Pokémon game is released, and I have to repeat this massive procedure all over again.

Currently in Pokémon Black 2, I'm working on obtaining the remainder of the medals that I don't have. As it stands, I have over 110 of them, with the vast majority of the ones that I'm missing being grouped around the Pokémon World Tournament (PWT), Pokémon Musical, Pokéstar Studios, all of X-type Pokémon captured, beating the Elite Four and Champion with a general type of Pokémon, etc.

To begin with, I'm focusing on the "Elite Four and Champion" aspect of the medals, starting with Normal-Type Pokémon as my set type for my party. And I already have my six Pokémon selected: Blissey, Ditto (with the hard-as-hell-to-obtain _IMPOSTER_ hidden ability), Porygon-Z, Regigigas, Slaking, and Togekiss (needing the Flying-Type aspect against Fighting-Type Pokémon). They were all well chosen with beneficial natures in mind, and now I'm simply strengthening them through Nimbasa City's two stadiums, the Join Avenue (what would I do _without_ it), until they're at least about Lv.80 and with maxed out IVs. And then after that, I'll just repeat the process with the other sixteen Pokémon type attributes, until I get to the Challenge Medal involving ONLY ONE Pokémon against the Elite Four and Champion.

For that one, a Lv.100 Arceus is a no-brainer, because of its Multitype ability providing the type attributes that work in my favor against them, so long as I have all sixteen elemental plates in my arsenal (which I should and DO have).

The upside to all of this is that I have a reason to train many new Pokémon that I would likely never use, which I can hold onto and trade over to the inevitable newer Pokémon game.

...

Second, I GOT A DELUXE BLACK NINTENDO WII U ON LAUNCH DAY!

Granted, I've only been on it sparingly, and enjoying the _NintendoLand_ game that it comes packaged with. But during that time that I've been on it, I've been learning how the system works, from the ingenious uses of the Wii U GamePad controller, to the applications that the Wii U has to offer, the most notable one being Miiverse.

And through Miiverse, I've learned a few interesting things.

Firstly, Nintendo literally side-stepped their competition with this application, and is already proven to be a popular tool for Wii U owners. Secondly, if you have an artistic edge, then you'll enjoy Miiverse. Thirdly, there's already some interesting commotion forming within the communities of each individual Wii U game and application.

For example, for Netflix, I'm already seeing users highlight their favorite shows to watch. Some favor the strong list of Japanese animé that Netflix has to offer, with great hits such as _Naruto, Soul Eater, Afro Samurai, High School of the Dead, _etc. Others favor the blood and gore in Netflix's arsenal, such as _The Walking Dead_. And others favor the popular, colorful cartoons/animation series that Netflix has for your viewing pleasure, such as _Avatar: The Last Airbender, Code Lyoko, and My Little Pony: Frienship is Magic_, just to name a few.

The method in which Wii U users express themselves, through text or impressive imagery, is also creative or chuckle-worthy. For example, I recall reading this bit from a user that was targeting Netflix. That person said something like "Gonna watch My Little Po... I mean, The Walking Dead" and it stuck into my head.

...

And that brings me to my third reason.

Before I heard of _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ (which I'll just call "MLP" for short), I've been seeing on a regular basis the INSANE amount of fandom over the show, and Miiverse is no exception to this, what with all of the "Bronies", "Brohoofs", and "Pegasisters" notes. So, quite recently actually (around Thanksgiving weekend), I took it upon myself to do a bit of research on the show, to see why people find it so popular.

And after a VERY short amount of time of research on the matter through Google, I can clearly see why.

For starters, the director behind MLP (her name being Lauren Faust) also worked on other fantastic cartoons such as _Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends_ and _The Powerpuff Girls_, both of which I watched fondly a few years ago. She's also married to Craig McCraken, who (if my information is accurate) once worked for Cartoon Network. That alone means that the person behind MLP knows what she is doing in order to make yet another fantastic cartoon series.

And when I decided to watch the first two (pilot) episodes of MLP through Netflix (once again, around Thanksgiving weekend), I can understand _plainly_ why the show is so popular, so well-received by not just its original targeted audience (young girls I presume), but to these "Bronies" as well.

_My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ is a _very_ well-written show, with noticeable moral values, colorful and charming characters, great animation and voice-acting, and long-lasting appeal. And even though there are a handful of elements in MLP that aren't out of place for the young, perhaps stereotypical, female audience (cuteness and ponies, the obvious), there are others that would appeal to people outside of the show's targeted audience.

This one person stated on Yahoo! Answers (the website that I found on Google where I did my brief research on the MLP's popularity) that "one of the main characters kicked a lion/eagle hybrid in the face! And in a future episode one of them SNAPS a bears neck and kills him." Of course, I've only seen the first couple of episodes, so I have yet to see the latter statement in action and then believe it to be true or not.

Though if it is true, I DEFINITELY want to see it. And I'm just going to take a shot in the dark and say that it is probably the tomboyish Rainbow Dash that fells a bear. She seems to be the only one of the six with enough of a pugilistic nature to do so.

Then again, I might be wrong, and the person who stated that is a liar, but I don't mind.

All I know is that I'm _definitely_ a fan of the series, and I know I don't feel out of place with my impression of the series, based upon this statement that that same person said about the audience that watches MLP on YouTube.

"By the way the youtube statistics say that the most popular age group that watches the show is males aged 20-30, followed by males aged 10-19, THEN followed by teenage females."

If you don't believe me with those quotations, you can always go on Google and type in "Why is My Little Pony so popular" and then click on the link that takes you to Yahoo! Answers.

...

Okay, I think that's _more_ than enough digressing and I should get back to the reason that you're here in the first place: a new chapter in my FanFic.

This chapter, for the most part, focuses on the exact moment of Xeno Lucario _first_ entering Eduardo's respective Earth. It also ties in a few loose ends that I made with earlier chapters, one of them being Costas, Ian, Mars and the hooded figure telling Eduardo about Xeno Lucario, and what he did during his time here.

Also, as expected there are a couple of new songs, these two being from _Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days_. However, the two songs that I referenced aren't the limited DS digital versions. They're the _original_ versions of the songs, the ones that are present in the album that I highlighted.

Finally, before letting you read on, I will say this much. You should do yourself a favor and either get a dictionary/thesaurus in hand, or set something similar up as a new tab on your internet browser.

Why? Because Xeno Lucario uses some big words.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XV (15): Dawn over a New World<strong>

Location: My Village

Date: December 1st, 59 A.D.

Time: 10:18 AM

My village is a halcyon, remote settlement that resides in the middle of a desert, with the Red Sea present on its coastline. The villagers within this village went along with their daily lives, passing by day after day in time, living simple lives. This was the norm over the last decade, ever since I left this village on May 2nd, 49 A.D.

However, that norm would be broken on this day.

A rift in space opened up a few hundred feet above the earth, hovering a few feet off from being directly _above_ my house of residence. An object emerged from that rift in space—a mostly dark blue, bipedal, canine-like object, clad in battle armor—, unconscious in mental state, and began to (reluctantly) free-fall towards the sandy surface below.

In only a few seconds, Xeno Lucario landed onto the sand, a few feet in front of the entrance of my house. He landed with a loud thud—the reason being his body mass was temporarily multiplied by his Steel-Type defense mechanism, which made each and every cell in his body exponentially more dense—, leaving a crater on his impact site. The puncture wounds that he sustained on his abdomen gradually leaked blood onto his fur, which in turn dripped onto the sand and gradually began dying it red.

The villagers—all hearing a sound similar to an asteroid crashing down—quickly rushed over to where Lucario was unconscious. None of them ever bothered to look up above to see a rift in space, which closed up as soon as Lucario hit the floor. The three Pokémon that resided within the rift—Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia—sealed off any connection that remained from this world and theirs, leaving the Aura Pokémon sealed off into _this_ world.

All of the villagers, in a rather short amount of time, had gathered around the Aura Pokémon, laying their eyes on such an uncanny sight. They had never seen such a creature before, and discussed amongst themselves just what he was.

"What in the world is that thing?"

"It looks…like a jackal."

"If it's a jackal, then why is it blue?"

"No jackal on this world is blue."

"It's a big world. Maybe a blue jackal has yet to be discovered."

"If that's the case, then it might be a new species of canine."

"Is it male, or female?"

"…I have no idea. I can't tell."

"What is it wearing?"

"It looks like…_armor_… And is that a belt on its waistline?"

"Are those holes on its armor?"

"Is that…blood?"

"What caused _that_ to it?"

Every single one of them was clueless as to what this being is. Since they couldn't figure out the identity of this organism by themselves, they decided to seek out the wisdom of the two smartest people amongst their village: the village chiefs Costas and Ian. Both brothers were finishing their morning breakfast nearby, and were called over just as they finished.

Both Costas and Ian arrived to the mass of people and made their way over through them, towards the crater in the sand. They both eyed the unknown entity that lay there, staining the sand crimson with his blood.

"Costas, do you have any idea what this organism is?" Ian inquired his brother.

"No, I don't." Costas's response was honest and clear.

The villagers, after hearing them speak, quickly interjected.

"Wait, you _both_ have no clue as to what it is?"

"Are you both just as clueless as we are?"

Both brothers ogled away from the Aura Pokémon and looked back at the villagers. They nodded at them, confirming their assumption.

With the visor that Lucario had concealing his face—or more importantly, his blood red eyes—, no one was able to see his eyes open as he regained consciousness.

"Maybe if we remove its helmet," Costas suggested. "We'll know just what it is."

The instant Lucario realized that he was surrounded by people, his body sprang upright, and he stood back on his two furry feet. The people around him never see him spontaneously become bipedal, and they only lunge back and gasp when they see him awaken and react in the blink of an eye. Both Costas and Ian however, they remain stagnant and look back at the Aura Pokémon, an aura of calmness present amongst the two of them.

Before Lucario could utter a single word, the pain of his injury caught up to him. The seeping puncture wounds quickly weakened his ability to stay upright, and forced him to topple back onto the sandy floor as suddenly as he stood upright. He quickly removed both his visor and chest plate segments of his battle armor, in order to clearly see the damage that Dialga had inflicted upon him earlier.

"…Never mind," Costas said as he saw Lucario's bare face, still unsure of the Aura Pokémon's identity.

Lucario seemed more preoccupied with his injury now that he realized its significance. He placed both of his paws over the puncture wounds, and attempted to heal himself with the abilities that he possessed. However, the injury proved to be too traumatic to his well being, forcing his paws to shake slightly in shock, and disrupted his concentration over his aura abilities. He was unable to muster any aura on his paws, and only had them stain red as a result of placing them over his wound.

"I may not know who…or _what_ you are," Ian said. "But I can tell, from that massive bite mark on you, that you're seriously injured."

"My brother and I can provide you with medical care at our home," Costas added. "Our house is directly behind you. And judging by the crater in the sand that you left with your body, you actually almost landed on it."

Lucario, looking back and forth between both brothers, pondered this option repetitively. "(Should I allow the most avaricious, detrimental, and power-hungry of species tend to my injuries?)"

Looking back and forth between the facial appearances of both brothers, Xeno could sense a fair amount of selflessness and serenity emanating from them, from their auras. And since his viewpoint on humanity, as it presently stands, is highly _negative_—due to what Giovanni and his Team Rocket organization does to his species and _has_ done to them for years—, he found it abnormal of himself to actually think about _trusting_ them. However, with his current state of being, he really doesn't have a choice in the matter.

Lucario, without saying a word, nods and decides to go with them. He attempts to get up again, but finds himself falling over onto his rear again, unable to muster the strength to regain his footing a second time on his own.

However, both Costas and Ian were there to offer their assistance. Ian grabbed both of Lucario's arms and helped him regain his footing. He then placed Lucario's right arm behind his back, holding it with his right hand, and held onto Lucario's waistline with his left arm, being careful not to dip his hands into Lucario's wound unintentionally. With every step that Lucario took, Ian supported most of his weight and followed alongside him. They both entered my former home and moved further inward, towards my former laboratory.

Costas remained behind to retrieve the helmet and chest plate that Xeno discarded earlier. Before he entered the house however, he had this to say to his fellow neighbors.

"You know, even though my brother and I aren't doctors…or _veterinarians_ for that matter," Costas said. "We'll make sure that it receives proper treatment."

Costas concluded before following behind his brother's footsteps—as well as the trail of blood that Lucario was beginning to leave behind. The villagers disbanded and resumed their daily routines, knowing well enough that the unknown entity was now in the hands of the two wisest men in this village.

* * *

><p><em><span>21.1: Noon over a New World<span>_

Location: My Laboratory (Recovery Room)

Time: 10:42 AM

Once Ian and Xeno made their way over to the laboratory's Recovery Room, Ian had him remove any equipment he had on his body: his battle armor and utility belt. The items were placed on a nearby shelf within the room, and Ian then helped Lucario onto a nearby hospital bed.

Ian had prepared, on a nearby hospital tray, various items for treating Lucario's injuries. He had sewing equipment, an anesthetic bottle, a needle, a sanitized cleaning cloth, and a roll of bandages, all necessary for his current task at hand.

Ian began with the anesthetic bottle and the needle, the needle being necessary to transfer a small dosage of anesthetic to Lucario's injury site. The needle was first stuck into the bottle, and then a few milliliters worth of anesthetic was drawn into it, enough of a dosage after he took into account Xeno's body mass. The needle was then inserted into Lucario's abdomen, where the puncture wounds were most concentrated.

However, Ian found himself having to put in an exponential amount of force onto the needle, just to pierce Lucario skin. Thankfully, he managed to stick the needle into him, before the needle had broken.

"Despite external appearances, your skin appears to possess…metallic properties," Ian said before injecting the anesthetic and removing the needle, setting it aside on the hospital tray afterward. "How is that physically possible?"

"(Does the word "Steel-Type" come into mind?)" Lucario thought sarcastically.

Costas eventually found his way into the Recovery Room, having followed Lucario's blood trail to where both Ian and the Aura Pokémon were residing in. He noticed the shelf that was stocked with Lucario's possessions, and placed Lucario's chest plate back alongside the other pieces of Lucario's battle armor. The helmet, however, he showed some curiosity over it, and attempted to put it on. Unfortunately, the helmet was too small for him and therefore didn't fit him at all.

The only thing that this attempt gave him was a glimpse at what was engraved on the helmet, around the inner area of the helmet, the area on the back of the helmet that touches the back of your neck.

Costas could see a red "R" adjacent to the number "2010".

"(This is set…almost two millennia in the future?)" Costas pondered. "(How is _that_ possible?)"

Setting that thought aside by putting the helmet back on the shelf, Costas then ogled Lucario's utility belt, which currently possessed each and every Poké Ball from his friends, as well as his own. But because he had no idea what they were for, he could only speculate.

"(I wonder what those capsules are for…)" Costas began to reach for them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Ian said as he was sewing each and every one of Lucario's bite marks closed.

"Why?" Costas said before looking at his brother.

"Because it's looking at you alertly."

Costas averted his eyes from his brother and to the Aura Pokémon, quickly noticing how he was glaring at him, almost antagonistically.

"(I swear to Arceus, if you touch my Poké Balls…)" Lucario began to ponder with narrowed eyes.

Costas, receiving mild shivers from Lucario's piercing red glare, slowly retracted his arm and stepped away from the shelf.

"(…That's better,)" Lucario almost formed a smile before looking away.

"You know, instead of standing there and doing nothing, you could be doing something more productive at the moment." Ian conversed with his brother.

"…Such as?" Costas wondered.

"Go and make some medicine out of the Berries that we have in the Berry Greenhouse Room. And make sure that you use Rabuta Berries as the main ingredient."

"(Rabuta Berries?)" Xeno pondered. "(Aren't those the ones that positively influence the stomach?)"

"Also, every part of that Berry should be used," Ian continued, "as it is necessary to maximize its potency."

"Alright then," Costas understood his task at hand before leaving the room.

A few more minutes pass as Ian continues to sew and seal Lucario's puncture wounds. After he sewed the last bit of the injury, he wiped off any excess blood with the sanitized cleaning cloth. However, some coagulated blood remained on Lucario's yellow fur, but that would crumble and peel away in time, as it wasn't necessary to clean off at the moment.

"If you could please lean forward from your bed," Ian said before retrieving the roll of bandages. "I can apply these bandages over your injury."

Lucario, still trusting Ian with his life, obeyed and did as he requested. He reclined upward, and in doing so, found out how his strength was gradually returning to him.

Ian begins to unroll the bandage roll and revolve it around Lucario's abdomen. He wraps it around the Aura Pokémon a few times, elevating it upward and downward, so as to cover the entire vicinity of Lucario's injury. Once enough bandages were applied tightly, sticking durably well against each other, Ian tears the end off and sets the bandage roll aside.

"Alright, now you can recline back and relax."

Lucario did just as Ian requested and reclined back. In doing so, he felt the tightness that the bandages applied to his torso, but he never showing any discomfort towards them, because the bandages bended to the shape of their applied site.

"Well, I've done all that I'm able to in my part," Ian said. "All that's left is for my brother to bring the medicine that he's preparing for you, to seal up the holes made onto your stomach."

Lucario, feeling much better physically than he did moments before, actually felt thankful to the human being that magnanimously tended to his injuries, without so much as an incentive, or caring for anything of physical value in return.

"_…Thank you…_" Lucario spoke truthfully.

"Ah, so you _are_ capable of speech," Ian spoke _without_ a tone of bewilderment.

Lucario didn't expect this reaction from him. "_You don't seem surprised?_"

Ian just shook his head. "Speculating from the high-tech equipment you had equipped onto your being, I assumed that you were an intelligent life form."

Lucario briefly glimpsed his battle armor and utility belt that resided on the nearby shelf. "(All of that technology was manufactured by _your_ species, not mine.)"

"You also _understood_ everything that I said, so I strongly believed that you were capable of speech."

"_Acute speculative capabilities…_" Lucario muttered. "_You're quite intelligent for your age._"

"I suppose so," Ian said. "By the way, I couldn't help but notice that your mouth doesn't move when you speak. Why is that?"

Lucario felt as if he could share a few topics with this person. "_I speak through telepathy._"

"Telepathy, huh…?" Ian scratched his head at such an exotic ability. "So you're psychic?"

"_Yes, I am,_" Lucario said before trailing off in thought. "(Although I strongly believe that I'm a lot more than that, after that prophecy that I recently learned about.)"

* * *

><p>(Xeno Lucario's Flashback)<p>

_IT SHALL BE BESTOWED WITH THE KEY TO UNLOCKING THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF POK__É__MON._

_IT SHALL BE THE CATALYST TO SHATTERING THE LIMIT OF FOUR MOVES._

_IT SHALL KNOW UNFATHOMABLE POWER THAT WILL RIVAL THE ORIGINAL ONE._

_IT SHALL PREVENT THE WORLD FROM FALLING INTO THE VOID OF THE DARK ONE._

* * *

><p>(End of Xeno Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"(What responsibility have I been given?)" Lucario pondered.

A few seconds pass before Costas returns with the Rabuta Berry medicine that he was instructed to brew.

"Guess whose back?" Costas said rhetorically, and with an eerie sing-song voice.

"Oh good, the medicine's ready," Ian said.

Costas walks over to Lucario's bedside and hands over the medicine to the Aura Pokémon, whom easily retrieves it with his left paw.

"_Thank you,_" he said sincerely.

"Holy crap, you can talk?!" Costas stepped back with disbelief, eyes widened with surprise.

"_Well, there's the reaction that I expected…_" Lucario said with a small smile, before drinking the medicine whole.

Costas, still discombobulated by Xeno's speech capabilities, looks over at his brother. "How long has it been able to do that?"

Ian just shakes his head. "If you paid enough attention to a few key signs, then you would've known. However, I shouldn't be surprised that you're this dim-witted, especially with the head injuries that you sustained during our childhood."

Lucario drinks every drop of the Rabuta Berry medicine and is already able to feel its beneficial effects sealing the holes in his stomach, as if by magic. He also enjoyed the taste of the medicine, and thinks about the Berries utilized.

Costas, setting aside Lucario's ability to speak, removed the empty cup of medicine from his paw. "Do you want to know what makes this medicine taste so good?"

"_Is it the use of both Sitrus Berries for stronger recovery and Watmel Berries for an overpowering sweet taste?_"

This time, both brothers were rendered thunderstruck. They didn't expect Lucario to know about these gene-spliced fruits.

"Yes…" Costas fought against his speechlessness.

"How do you know that?" Ian inquired.

"_These types of Berries are plentiful from the world that I come from._"

These words resonated within Ian's head. "You mean you're not _of_ this world?"

Lucario shook his head temporarily. "_No, I'm not. This world, compared to what I'm used to, seems far too…primitive. And aside from this laboratory and you two people, my assumptions seem to be leaning in my favor._"

Costas recalled the engraving on Lucario's helmet. "Well, this is the year 59 A.D., and the engraving on your helmet said '2010', so I guess that's why you feel that this world is primitive."

Lucario remained silent temporarily. "(So I was sent back in time as well…by Dialga.)"

Costas, out of curiosity, decided to ask Lucario this question. "Since you're not _of_ this world, what exactly _are_ you?"

Again, Lucario felt open enough to share his information with them. "_Back in my world, humanity calls my species 'Pocket Monsters', or Pokémon for short._"

"(…Pokémon?)" Ian pondered.

"(Sounds…Japanese…)" Costas thought as well.

Lucario could sense the confusion from both people, once he had said a word that they've never heard of before. "(And Palkia sent me to this place as well.)"

"You know…" Ian decided to change the topic. "The three of us never properly introduced ourselves."

"My name is Costas, and my brother's name is Ian. We're the village chiefs of this location." Costas added. "Do you have a name?"

"…" Lucario, for privacy reasons, remained silent when they asked of his name.

Both brothers wondered why their new friend was eerily silent.

"_…No… Not yet…_" Lucario muttered. "_I believe that I've said enough for now._"

Lucario, feeling as if he possessed enough strength, decided to get up and off of his bed.

Before both brothers could say anything otherwise, they noticed that Lucario had no difficulty in moving about. They didn't even bother to say anything when Lucario proceeded away from them and towards the entrance door of the Recovery Room.

"(Until my injuries fully heal, I suppose I can stay here for the time being.)" Lucario thought as he gripped the doorknob and twisted it clockwise. "(To keep myself occupied, I could explore this underground laboratory for what it's worth. I might also tell those two village chiefs more about myself, depending or not if I trust them enough.)"

Lucario opened the door and walked out of it, disappearing from the vision of Costas and Ian as he proceeded down the hallway.

"Aw, I still had questions to ask it," Costas moaned. "I wanted to ask more about its past and home-world."

"You need patience, Costas." Ian scolded. "It obviously trusts us, but doesn't trust us _enough_ yet. We just need to give it some time to grow accustomed to us. I don't blame it if it's fortifying its information and keeping it away from us."

"Eh…I guess you're right." Costas shrugged his shoulders and agreed.

Ian then turned around and faced the nearby shelf, eyeing the equipment that the Aura Pokémon possessed on his being when he came to his world.

"(What a mysterious Pokémon.)" Ian pondered, clueless as to what technology Lucario acquired, or how it functioned.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Laboratory (Prison Cell Room)<span>

Time: 12:04 PM (Noon)

Xeno Lucario, after wandering across the underground laboratory for a small amount of time, stumbled upon the Prison Cell Room, a room that hasn't been needed for over a decade.

The Aura Pokémon proceeded across the massive hallway of this room, eyeing the individual prison cells in tandem.

"(This room reminds me so much of the basement floor holding cells in Team Rocket Main Headquarters.)" Lucario juxtaposed the similarity of both rooms, in terms of practical use.

Just before Lucario decided to leave the room altogether, he felt his injuries act up on him.

"(Maybe I should just sit down for a moment…)" Lucario pondered, holding onto the side of his abdomen with his arm.

Much to his physical relief, each and every prison cell had a couple of beds in them. He just entered an unlocked prison cell and sat down, choosing to rest for a few minutes.

During that time, he decided to ponder about his future.

"(How am I going to return home? I don't even know where to begin.)" He thought before looking down at the grey, squalid floor below. "(I'm stuck here on this new, alien world. I don't have so much a lead as to what to do—)"

Something on the floor caught Lucario's blood red eyes. He notices a small, faint red spot on the floor—which easily stands out amongst the rest of the floor—, concealed over a thin layer of dust. He uses his feet to sweep away the layer of dust that resided on top of—and around—the dark red spot.

And in doing so, he unearths a dust painting that I made over a decade ago, an illustration describing a silhouetted being that I visualized in a dream. Lucario visualizes this dirt drawing for a few seconds, before coming to this sudden conclusion.

"(Some past prisoner must've drawn this out of boredom.)" He pondered before standing upright and walking out of the Prison Cell Room.

* * *

><p><em><span>21.2: Roman God of War<span>_

Location: My Village (Outskirts)

Date: December 7th, 59 A.D.

Time: 1:07 PM

From across the horizon of the village, an impending army—numbering exactly 501 soldiers—marches across the desert. They continue moving until they are able to visualize the village across the horizon, where they all temporarily halt in their tracks.

Their leader, the Roman General Mars, visualizes the distant village with red hot intensity in his eyes.

"If we continue as is," One of his soldiers explained. "We'll arrive before sunset."

"I see…" Mars responded calmly, before grinning somewhat. "Upon our imminent arrival, the village will burn where it stands. And with their trump card thrown away so long ago, they are absolutely defenseless against our impending assault."

"Thank God for that tip the emperor gave us," Mars's fellow soldier said with relief in the tone of his voice. "Eduardo was banished from his home over a decade ago, and has just wandered the world ever since."

"It's a big world then, if we haven't seen one trace of him."

The legion of 501 soldiers proceeded onward towards their destination.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Village (My House)<span>

Time: 5:39 PM

On the roof of my former home, Xeno resided there, fully healed from his injuries and no longer wearing bandages around his abdomen, after approximately a week had passed since he first sustained his injuries. He was on his back, his paws placed on the top of his furry belly, and his tail wedged over to his left side—so that it wasn't compressed by his body. His eyes looked on upward, observing the reddening sky.

In doing so, he was drifting off in thought, pondering over the powerful forces that brought him here in the first place.

"(Dialga is the Temporal Pokémon, and Palkia is the Spacial Pokémon. Dialga possesses the power to control time, and Palkia possesses the power to control space.)" Lucario mentally reviewed information that he knew about Sinnoh's Pokémon deities. "(They can only control what they specialize in.)"

All of a sudden, Lucario's eyes wrinkled somewhat when he realized a key detail.

"(If this is a new world, then there was a _third_ force in taking me over here. It couldn't have been either Dialga _or_ Palkia, because bridging worlds isn't in their jurisdiction. The only Pokémon capable of dimensional transport…is Giratina.)"

Lucario sat upright, looking across the horizon as he pondered.

"(But why would the three of them transport me here, to a new location, time, and world? What do they know that I don't? Do they know more about that prophecy than I do?)"

Lucario couldn't help but scoff at his last question.

"Heh… (Of course they know more about that prophecy. Spear Pillar is _their_ place of residence, their territory. The inscriptions engraved on each and every one of those pillars, be they broken or intact, they are as familiar with as their innate special abilities.)"

Lucario decided to get up stand upright, his eyes gazing across the horizon, useless in need as Lucario continued to ponder on.

"(However, even if I have a prophecy to fulfill, I still desire my old home, with my friends that I've grown attached to. Right here, I'm alone and lost, and clueless in my next task.)"

Lucario put a paw to his chin, and realized something.

"(Of course, for all that I know, I was sent here for a reason, and even if I don't know my next task, it'll come to me in time. The prophecy foretells that I'll 'prevent the world from falling into the Void of the Dark One'. However, I only wish I knew more about the information that I was vaguely given, rather than ponder and speculate what I don't know.)"

Lucario stopped thinking to himself once he heard sounds originating from behind him. His ears twitched somewhat before his body did an about-face, so that he could see what was behind him.

Before his eyes, he sees an approaching force of 501 soldiers strong, all marching towards this very village. And in their way, all of the village residents—Costas and Ian included—stood in their way, hoping to fortify their home with their beings.

Lucario watches on to see what is occurring, listening attentively and accurately with his highly sensitive auditory perception, despite being hundreds of feet away from this commotion.

* * *

><p><span>Location: My Village (Limit)<span>

Time: 5:47 PM

The Roman General Mars and his Roman battalion of 500 soldiers menacingly approach the halcyon village, stopping before the village residents, whom stood as a wall before them.

Costas and Ian, whom stood in front of their people, spoke for their village, representing their opinions and thoughts.

"What business could you all have here?" Ian began.

"Judging by your equipment, I'd say your business here is hostile." Costas added.

Mars looks at the group of villagers before him and introduces himself. "I am the General of this battalion, Mars is my name."

"You have no business here." Ian stated bluntly.

"Go back to Rome, where your tyranny belongs." Costas added in a similar tone of voice.

"And why should I?" Mars grinned evilly. "Your juggernaut Eduardo is no longer a resident of your village, and he is your only competent form of defense. Without him, this village is under the mercy of _anyone_ wishing to conquer it."

Both brothers remained silent, for they knew that Mars was right, even though they didn't know how _exactly_ he had acquired that information.

"(News must spread quickly amongst the outside world…)" Ian thought.

"(I'm much too young to die…)" Costas groaned mentally.

"However, I was given strict orders by my emperor to obliterate this village, rather than conquer it. To him—to _all_ of Rome—, he sees this village as a repulsive stain on his country, a stain that your trump card Eduardo left on us when he annihilated Mercury's legion over a decade ago, and splattered their blood over our civilization. Now my emperor wants that stain purged from this planet, and wants it done as swiftly and as barbarically as possible."

Lucario, having heard enough, decided to make himself a part of this commotion. He jumped down from the roof of my former house, discreetly, no one so much as seeing him jump, or see him proceed to the village multitude and join their numbers.

"This village will meet its end under my command!" Mars shouted. "I will see to it that this village doesn't see the light of another day, only the light of its fire as it combusts to nothing!"

Mars raised his hand to signal his army to prepare for battle. In an instant, each and every one of his troops unsheathed their swords, and those who had shields hoisted their shields forward. Mars unsheathed his sword as well, and was more than ready to annihilate the villagers and their home. However, he showed enough mercy to say this, the most clichéd phrase of antagonists.

"Any last words, before my battalion obliterates the lot of you?"

"…A few, actually…" Ian said.

Both he and Costas turn their backs at the opposing threat and look at the villagers behind them, never once seeing that Lucario was present amongst them—likely because he stood behind some taller people.

"Since we represent these citizens as village chiefs, we know what we're talking about when we have this to say." Ian began.

"It was a mistake of this village—of _all_ of these citizens—to drive away our only _hero_," Costas continued, "all because we thought that he was a monster, imbued with power far greater than our feeble minds can ever comprehend, or that our feeble bodies will ever brandish."

"In banishing Eduardo—my brother—, we all rent our only defense against an eventual opposing force, such as this one that stands before us all." Ian followed.

"However," Costas turned back at the opposing threat. "We're not as submissive as we once were."

Ian did the same. "We will fight to the death if we have to, to prevent any scum like you from having your way."

The villagers just seemed to stay silent, especially after Ian said "fight to the death".

"…" Mars, after hearing what he believes to be chronologically excessive, sighs and shakes his head once they've stopped talking. "I asked for any last _words_, not any last _speeches_…"

Xeno Lucario, standing inconspicuously amongst the crown, attempted to make sense of what Costas, Ian, and Mars were talking about. "(Who is this 'Eduardo' person that they keep referring to?)" He pondered, slightly dumbfounded by the vagueness of this cited person.

"Honestly…" Mars stops and looks at each and every citizen of the village. "…After hearing such an unnecessary discourse, I'm just _itching_ to slit each and every one of your throats with my—"

Mars abruptly silences himself when he notices a pair of _blue ears_ shifting behind a village citizen. The abnormality of this sight quickly filled the Roman General with curiosity.

"What the hell is that far back, that thing with the blue, pointed ears?"

Whatever Mars was referring to quickly caused everybody to look behind their shoulders. When they did, they noticed the Aura Pokémon amongst them, seemingly lost in thought.

"(Why do they keep referring to him as this 'juggernaut' and 'trump card'?)" Lucario continued to ponder to himself.

"Bring that anomaly up front!" Mars commanded the village citizens, briefly pointing his sword at them in the process. "If you value your lives for what little they're worth, you'll do as I say!"

Costas, knowing well enough what Mars was talking about—especially since the words "blue, pointed ears" was used—, turned around and faced the citizens behind him once more.

"Do what he says," Costas spoke his mind. "Hopefully, we'll live a bit longer."

"Costas!" Ian scolded his brother, after hearing Costas's uncertainty.

"What? I'm only doing what you said, representing the citizens as village chief," Costas back-lashed his brother with his words. "Most of us don't even think that we'll survive. You can tell just by looking at their countenances."

Ian turned around and faced the villagers, quickly realizing that his brother was right. "God, I miss my brother…" He spoke under his breath.

All of the villagers proceeded backwards, until Xeno Lucario was up front. Costas and Ian remained in front of the villagers, and they were now simultaneously by his side. Costas was by Lucario's left side, and Ian was by Lucario's right side. They all eyed Mars and his gradually elevating levels of astonishment—except for Lucario, who was still lost in thought.

Before the eyes of Mars and his battalion of 500 soldiers, they witnessed a creature unlike anything they've ever seen.

"Dark blue fur, exposed bones, bipedal stature…" Mars mentally highlighted specific details of this abnormality. "I've never seen anything of the sort in my entire life! What the hell is it?!"

"(How powerful is that 'Eduardo' person any—?)" Lucario stopped thinking to itself when it saw Mars ogling at him. He eyes the Roman General in response to this and thinks "(What the hell are you staring at?)" with mild irritation.

"A visitor, whom arrived on the first day of this month," Ian explained to the Roman General.

"It had severe abdominal injuries when it first arrived," Costas continued. "They were treated for and it recovered quickly."

"…" Mars was silent for a few seconds before leaning over to one of the soldiers adjacent to him and whispering to his ear. "Have you ever seen such a creature before?"

"Never," The soldier responded. "In my wildest dreams, I didn't think it was possible for a dog to be bipedal and/or have dark blue fur."

"It must be an extremely rare species," Mars speculated.

"(Lucario aren't extremely rare species,)" Xeno responded in his thoughts, hearing their discreet conversation with his sharp sense of hearing. "(We just live in areas that humans have yet to study in better detail.)"

"How much do you think someone would pay for it, if we managed to _capture_ it?" Mars continued.

"It would easily fetch you riches beyond belief," The soldier assumed. "If skinned, its fur alone would likely bestow upon you your exact weight in gold."

"Yes, but how much do you think it'd be worth _alive_?" Mars wondered.

"(You people are too materialistic…)" He pondered with bitter resentment at their conversation.

"Maybe I should try calling to it," Mars said.

"Yeah, why not," His fellow soldier agreed.

Mars held out one of his hands towards the Aura Pokémon, but never stepped forward in the process. And in a tone that made Xeno seem as if he were Mars's pet dog, the Roman General began to communicate to the Aura Pokémon.

"Hey there, little blue doggy," Mars began to speak with a cutesy, friendly tone of voice. "Do you want to come home with us? Do you tire of this heat, and these backwater people? Huh?"

Lucario's response to this degrading behavior was immediate and surprising.

"_You can bite my blue, furry ass and take whatever hair lodges onto your teeth back home with you._" He retaliated with a glaring countenance.

The village citizens immediately "oohed" at Lucario's spiteful remark, and both Costas and Ian chuckled somewhat at what they heard. They never thought that Lucario had this type of sassiness in him.

Mars's Roman battalion exclaimed amongst each other at how this exotic animal before them was surprisingly capable of human speech.

"(What did you just—?)" Mars thought with a vein of anger forming alongside his forehead, his fists clenched with forming rage. "(Did that bitch just speak right now?)"

"_All of you people are _nauseatingly_ identical,_" Lucario began telling what surplus he had on his mind. "_You are all flawed, fraudulent beings, whom enjoy governing over your _own_ species, and hoarding everything in sight as if it was _premeditatedly_ intended to belong to you, regardless of what it may be. You all utilize whatever power you can hope to obtain to cause absolute turmoil to whomsoever you please, and respond fiercely when your 'control freak' tactics backfire, as is occurring presently. Whatever doesn't comply with your species, you choose to _decimate_ instantly, so that your flawed political sovereignty remains uncontested and unmoved._"

"…" Mars didn't know how to respond to the surprising wisdom—as well as stalwart word choice—that Lucario surprisingly had.

The village citizens, as well as both Costas and Ian, didn't know what to think about Lucario's tremendous opinion of humanity.

"_However, I've learned recently that not everybody is plagued by the negative correspondence that you all embrace._"

Xeno looked at the villagers behind him, eyeing each and every one of them quickly and at least once. He eyed both Costas and Ian in the end, and with more time than the villagers.

"_Both Costas and Ian, the village chiefs of this rural community, displayed selfless kindness and a willingness to help me when I required it, without so much a care in the world for any form of incentive or repayment in return._"

Both of the brothers that Lucario referenced couldn't help but feel emotional by Lucario's gratitude. They only knew until now how thankful Lucario _truly_ was to them.

"_These kinds of people—gallant, impartial, and obliging—are gems amongst the rough that human nature has become. These kinds of people are eternally and unenthusiastically targeted by the nature of people that _you_ all are._"

"(Authoritative, intelligent, and virtuoso?)" Mars pondered what he believes he is, as well as his country as a whole.

"_People that are anecdotal, imprudent, and uncouth—the ones that are sufficiently egomaniacal to believe that they are fictitiously authoritative, intelligent, and virtuoso._"

Mars's eyes widened when he heard Lucario's word choice. "(It's like it's reading my mind!)"

Lucario, having made _more_ than enough of his point to Mars, re-faced both Costas and Ian.

"_Costas… Ian… Thank you, the both of you, from the bottom of my heart._" He said, smiling affectionately at the two people that healed him when he was injured.

"No problem," Costas said with a smile as well.

"We only did so because we knew you required our aid." Ian spoke truthfully.

"We never cared otherwise if you repaid us or not." Costas added.

"Heh heh…" Lucario couldn't help but chuckle (non-telepathically) at Costas's last sentence. "_It's actually quite queer that you suddenly decided to mention that._"

Both brothers raised a curious eyebrow to the Aura Pokémon.

"_I'm actually about to _repay_ the both of you, as well as this village._"

Lucario turned away from both Costas and Ian and re-faced Mars and his bloodthirsty legion. He then decides to step forward, stopping when he's twenty-five feet away from Mars. Once he stopped, he eyed Mars with a stagnant facial expression.

"Hang on a second…" Mars was slowly beginning to comprehend what Lucario is thinking of doing, based on what he had said and why he stepped forward somewhat. "You're not thinking of doing what I _think_ you're thinking of doing, are you?"

Lucario simply nodded at Mars, knowing well enough that he was catching on.

"You actually think…that you can _defeat_ my battalion of 500 soldiers?" Mars began to smile at the ridiculousness of the idea.

"_I don't think that I can. I _know_ that I can._" Lucario assured him, still retaining the dormant facial expression that he had before.

Mars, as well as his battalion of soldier, suddenly cackle at Lucario's sureness. And during their laughing, the village citizens can't help but feel astonished at Lucario's bravery and nobility—or question Lucario's "stupidity".

Costas and Ian however, they both think otherwise.

"Costas," Ian talked to his brother. "Doesn't this strike you as…nostalgic?"

"…" Costas pondered what Ian could be talking about, and immediately recalled a past event that Ian was referring to.

* * *

><p>(Costas's Flashback)<p>

_ "Do you want us to help you fight?" Costas asked with no fear and total bravery._

_ "We can go retrieve our weapons and—" Ian asked with no fear as well, but was silenced when I lifted my right hand and wiggled my finger horizontally, telling them "no" with body language, not even bothering to look at them, because I needed to watch the enemy army with the intensity of a hawk._

_ "The only favor I'm asking you two to do for me…is to survive by staying back and out of this fight," I spoke somberly to them._

_ "…" They didn't understand my words at first, but after a few seconds, they knew what I meant. They knew that I wanted them to live, even if I have to die to try and fulfill my order._

_ "If we three fight and I die, I don't want you two to die with me in battle." I told them my reasons for them to sit this fight out. "So for your safety…and as for these soldiers…" I said before turning my head to my right side, keeping an eye on both my brothers and the Roman Army. "They're mine…"_

* * *

><p>(End of Costas's Flashback)<p>

"Are you referring to when Eduardo singled himself against Mercury's Roman legion?"

"Yes, that's it." Ian retorted. "And when he did, he _annihilated_ the opposing forces, all by himself."

"You don't think…" Costas had a thought arise within his head, "…that this…_Pokémon_…is as _powerful_ as he is, do you?"

"It just might be," Ian said.

Lucario, having heard Mars and his battalion roar in laughter for over a minute straight, remained calm and composed. He knew well enough that all of this laughter would quickly reverse into fear, once he unleashed himself upon them.

Mars's laughter died down enough for him to be able to speak properly. However, he didn't _fully_ stop laughing, so his speech had the occasional chuckle inserted between words in his sentences.

"Very well then, he heh…" Mars responded with stifled laughter. "Since you're clearly so cocky and _willing_ to relinquish your life alongside your newfound friends, I _challenge_ you to do so!" Mars laughed harder than before, almost gasping and choking himself in the process. "I challenge you to face me, and my legion of 500 soldiers, and be torn apart under their overwhelming might! Do you accept my challenge?!"

Xeno, having clearly heard what Mars had said, smiles faintly before he crouches ever so slightly, and then crosses his arms over his face. He inhales once, sharply and through his snout rather than inspiring through his mouth, concentrating and focusing his inner aura, prepping himself for it to flare forth.

"Ha hah… What is it doing now?" Mars said, feeling that the Aura Pokémon has lost his mind, and yet remaining simultaneously curious in the process, because he wondered what this stance implied.

The villagers continue to watch on, unsure as to what Lucario has planned within his mind.

However, both Costas and Ian began to sense that something _chaotic_ would occur, and took precautions with their fellow citizens. They signaled the villagers to step back, saying that they shouldn't stand so close to a spectacle that hasn't occurred on this village in over ten years. Because both Costas and Ian were the village chiefs, they had the authority that reinforced their tactics, and everybody did as they said. And with the villagers obeying their orders for safekeeping, Costas and Ian followed behind them, once they retreated to a safer distance.

None too soon after the village residents retreated back, the _earth itself _began to resonate with Xeno's stockpiling aura. The sand surrounding Lucario's feet began to kick up and disperse, growing greater in intensity until it resembled a dust devil—a small, desert-based tornado. The floor began to rumble at Lucario's power, rivaling a small earthquake in terms of intensity.

"Ha ha hah…! He heh…" Mars, upon seeing the spectacle that Lucario was producing, eventually stopped laughing altogether, alongside his fellow soldiers. His eyes began to widen and his face simultaneously began to frown, in response to what was occurring before him.

All of a sudden, with nothing more than a battle cry from his mouth rather than his mind, Lucario's aura spontaneously _erupts_ forth and began to flare as a field surrounding his entire body, expanding about _six feet_ from any given point on his body. The sand's immediate response to his blazing blue aura was as violent as the jet engine-like bellowing that his aura produced as it surged across his body. Dust and debris were flown away, all around Lucario, forcing many whom couldn't brave sandstorms—or valued their eyesight—to shield their faces. The sheer power of it all formed a crater upon and around Lucario's feet, the earth below proving feeble and dispersing outward at his might.

"It's exactly as we thought, Costas!" Ian shouted under the sounds of Xeno's force, seeing him displaying tremendous aura capabilities through the sleeves that shielded his eyes from the raging sand.

"It's just like Eduardo!" Costas shouted with astonishment as well, hardly audible and shielding his eyes with his arms' sleeves as well.

"…Oh shit…" Mars cursed under his own breath, never expecting _this_ from the Aura Pokémon. "There's another freak of nature?!"

As brilliant as this display of power is, Xeno was simply intimidating his opponents and making a statement at how easily he could end their lives at this very moment. Once he sensed that he had installed sufficient dread to his enemies, the entire exhibition subsided. Lucario's aura field dispersed into the air, the sand stopped spiraling in his self-made gale and settled back down to earth, and the rumbling of the earth itself subsided. All that remained was the sand crater that Lucario stood stagnantly atop of.

"…" Mars was rendered silent, along with his entire legion. They began to fear the Aura Pokémon, unsure as to what he'll do next.

Lucario, his battle strategy already set, uncrossed his arms and formed a battle stance. His Aura Vision ability quickly activated, as he wanted it to, causing his dreadlock-like appendages to hover horizontally, his eyes to gleam a soul-piercing gold, and the veins surrounding his eyes to swell with extra blood flow.

"_Challenge accepted,_" he said simply before using TELEPORT to disappear from view. All that remained of his former trace was a slight updraft of dust that he kicked up with his technique.

_Fight And Away/Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Before Mars made sense of Xeno's warp technique, his ears suddenly responded to the sounds of chaos erupting forth behind him. He does an about-face, and sees that Lucario is directly behind his battalion. However, there was no longer one single Lucario. There are _three_ of them now, Lucario having used DOUBLE TEAM immediately after using TELEPORT to warp and prior to Mars looking behind himself. Each of the three Lucario began to demolish Mars's squadron of soldiers, utilizing moves that distinguished the Pokémon from each other.

The first Lucario was curled up into a tight ball and encased himself in a conflagration of his own creation, utilizing the Pokémon technique FLAME WHEEL in the process. He was rolling fiercely and plowing through any soldier that stood in his path, burning and crushing them in the process. The fire that encased him didn't harm him in the least, and vastly increased his destructive capabilities.

The second Lucario utilized LEAF BLADE on his left paw, and METAL CLAW on his right paw. With two blade-based techniques in his favor, he hacked and slashed his way across Mars's legion, while simultaneously avoiding each and every one of their bladed attack attempts with ease—because his Aura Vision ability granted him extrasensory perception. The armor and shields of the soldiers proved to be useless, as Lucario penetrated through all of them, without staggering from the effort of digging his attacks into them. Within his wake, he left a trail of blood, dead bodies, rent appendages and shredded metal.

The third and final Lucario favored brute force and utilized them with the various Ground-Type techniques in his arsenal. He would utilize EARTHQUAKE to disrupt the footing of the soldiers and cause them to lose their balance, EARTH POWER to send them flying sky high—before they landed to their deaths, and DIG to escape being surrounded when necessary.

The onslaught of the three Lucario continued, with the soldiers having difficulty in retaliating properly against them for two main reasons: scarring intimidation and unpredictable use of attacks.

The vast majority of the soldiers that still remained decided to stop the FLAME WHEEL Lucario in his tracks. They clustered together, erecting the shields that they had, and concealed themselves within them. Lucario, sure enough, stampeded over towards them, and quickly contacted them. However, much to his surprise, the shields and the soldiers held their ground and endured.

Lucario eventually realized that his rotation speed was slowing down, with the fire from FLAME WHEEL dispersing into the air before disappearing altogether. He plopped onto the sand below, face down and uncurled, his technique surprising nullified as quickly as it was used.

The only price that this cluster technique had for the soldiers was that their shields were severely singed and damaged, warped under the heat and the force that Xeno mustered. However, that didn't matter to them, since they no longer required this defense. They simply discarded their shields and surrounded the torpid Aura Pokémon as quickly as they could, gripping tightly the swords that they already had in hand.

When Lucario stood upright, he was already surrounded and targeted by the blades of the soldiers. The soldiers already had their swords elevated above their heads, ready to smite Xeno where he stands. However, Lucario reacted quickly enough and utilized IRON DEFENSE to drastically increase the density of his body, amplifying the Steel-Type properties that his body possessed.

When the razor edges of the soldier's swords came crashing down, they all _shattered_ upon impact with the Aura Pokémon's body, fragmenting like sheet glass upon impact. The resonating force of the failed attack blistered the hands of the Romans and caused them to bleed. Lucario hardly even _felt_ the strike of their weapons, and grinned smugly.

With the soldiers _further_ overwhelmed by Xeno's stalwart defenses, the Aura Pokémon took this opportunity to decimate all of his surrounding enemies in one blow. His body, almost spontaneously, began to radiate a shining red light, centered mostly from within his core and spreading in intensity across his body.

Lucario, once the light _completely_ enveloped his body, smiled devilishly at the technique he plans on using next. "_I hope you all enjoy fire, because fire is what you'll be _eternally_ surrounded by, where I'm about to send you all._"

Lucario inhaled once and held his breath. And in an instant, the energy that Lucario had built up within his body was unleashed. The result of this involved a revolving fire pillar of _herculean_ proportions. It stretched dozens of feet high into the sky, as well as in circumference, with Lucario—the source of this conflagration—being in the center of it all.

The Aura Pokémon, despite the intense heat and his Steel-Type properties, was unscathed from his own technique, having already acquired the discipline and control needed to utilize it in the first place. The same could not be said about the surrounding soldiers that were caught within the technique. Their armor, clothing, and weaponry quickly melted away, their flesh was then roasted away, their blood evaporated and turned to steam, and their bones were incinerated to ash. All of this death occurred in a fraction of a second. They never even had a chance to scream.

Once Lucario's hellfire receded, all that remained was an Aura Pokémon, his fur smoking somewhat from the technique, covered with small traces of pale black ash—the remains of the soldiers that he cremated. The sandy ground that he once stood on melted and cooled into a transparent glass, albeit that same glass was impure and fragmented immediately under Lucario's weight.

Lucario shook his body to remove the ash that clung onto his body, and then exhaled before hyperventilating, his body exhausted after using such a destructive technique. His Aura Vision ability also receded, the energy required in using it temporarily drained from his body.

"(I've always wanted to use BLAST BURN in battle,)" Lucario thought, smiling with his mouth wide open and panting heavily in the process. "(Sure it leaves me temporarily exhausted beyond belief, but the end result? It's completely worth it.)"

The second Lucario, with its stamina still plentiful, moved on from bladed weaponry and began to _break-dance_—of _all_ things—on the sandy floor. The centrifugal force that he generated quickly caused the air around him to revolve at tornado-force winds, which in turn caused another SANDSTORM to kick up. The sand from _this_ SANDSTORM however, quickly spread across the entire battlefield, consuming the three Aura Pokémon and the soldiers that remained alive, blinding the enemy—but not any of the three Lucario.

The third Lucario, with all of the power that he possessed, channeled it for one final attack: the most powerful Ground-Type attack in his arsenal. He leaped high into the air, soaring above the SANDSTORM that his second Lucario duplicate created, and then descended back down, somersaulting forward as he came back down to earth. A fraction of a second before he hit the floor, he clasped his paws together, and slammed them onto the sand upon impacting the floor.

The earth trembled even harder than before as Lucario's FISSURE technique began to take effect. The sand before them erupted outward and split apart, forming a massive crevice that was dozens of feet deep in the process. The few Roman soldiers that remained found themselves falling into this crevice, becoming trapped below once they hit the bottom.

The sand, because of its delicate properties, couldn't support becoming a crevice for an extended period of time, and began to refill itself as quickly as it was formed. The soldiers within the crevice found it impossible to struggle free, once the sand made itself present around their bodies. The sand, once it buried and consumed them entirely, suffocated them when they ran out of oxygen, crushing them in the process and killing them instantly.

The SANDSTORM descended back down on the floor, revealing the filling sand-based crevice to the villagers and Mars. There was no longer a trace of anyone alive from Mars's legion, and those that were dead and (somewhat) in one piece, were targeted by the first Lucario.

Once his stamina—as well as his Aura Vision ability—returned to him, Lucario focused his psychic abilities and used TELEKINESIS to lift each and every deceased soldier off of the ground. With telekinetic proficiency, Xeno had each and every fallen warrior plopped on top of the filling crevice. All of the soldiers were buried by the filling sand, and once the crevice was filled, no trace of Mars's legion remained.

_(Song Ends)_

The three Lucario assemble together and face the village, seeing how each and every person was watching them in awe. Before Lucario knew it, a few of the villagers began to clap, and then a few more villagers joined in. Eventually, a full-blown applause was made, people cheering and whistling to be heard. They all acknowledged Xeno as their hero—Costas and Ian included—, and knew better now to accept him, rather than fear him.

Especially because they knew of his nature _before_ the clash began, when Xeno explained his opinions of humanity. The same however, could not be said for Eduardo, because the villagers at that time didn't know what to make of my power and my choice of actions _after_ I had made the two of them known.

Lucario, in response to their applause, disengaged his DOUBLE TEAM effect and Aura Vision ability in tandem, no longer requiring them. He bowed down to his audience, as if he were an actor in a stage play. The villagers continued to cheer for him, thankful of his actions.

As for Mars, he simply stood stagnant nearby this scene. His jaw was dropped, his mind failing him in making sense of what Xeno just did to his legion.

"(That dark blue bastard… It just annihilated my entire battalion with ease, with the most improbable display of power that I've ever seen.)" Mars thought as his hands began to curl up and tighten into clenched fists. His teeth gritted harder than he ever thought possible, almost coming close to fracturing them in the process.

Lucario stops bowing at the village citizens and faces Mars. "_Anything you want to say to me, Mars?_" He said, sensing the hostility that Mars was building up within himself, but never needing to bring up his guard at him nevertheless.

"…" Bulging veins began to form on the top of his head, as well as on the back of his clenched fists. He knew just what to say to Lucario. But in saying so, he'd be admitting defeat, under his _own_ doing, for _challenging_ him in the first place.

"_Just say what's off the tip of your head. I already know what it is anyway._"

Mars couldn't fume up any more if he wanted to, and found it becoming increasingly painful to his body in doing so—especially since he was beginning to blister his sword arm in clenching his fists with his sword in hand. He relaxed his body, and figured he should just cooperate with Xeno…or likely end up just as dead as his soldiers are now.

"Challenge…completed…" He whispered and slurred his words together in a failed attempt to keep whatever pieces of pride he still had a hold of from falling out of his grasp.

Xeno, as a taunt, tilted the left side of his face towards Mars and put a paw up to his ear, shaping it as a funnel so that he could hear better. "_I'm sorry, could you repeat yourself one more time? I don't think the people here heard you properly._"

"I said 'Challenge completed'!" Mars fumed once more, shouting this time out of unyielding frustration.

"_That's better,_" He said before walking back towards the village, never looking back once at Mars, no longer seeing the Roman General as a prominent threat when there was only _one_ of him now.

Mars began to fume once more at Lucario turning his back on him and treating him as though he were nothing.

"No one makes a fool out of me!" He barked spitefully, gripping his sword's hilt tight with the rage he was feeling, to the borderline of _warping_ it around his fingers. "I don't care if you're human or a _monstrosity_ who somehow learned of our language! I'll _lop_ your bitch-like head in two, right down the middle!"

Mars recklessly charges towards Xeno as he proceeded back towards the village citizens. To Mars's point of view, Lucario appears unaware of the impending threat approaching from behind him.

However, from Xeno's perspective, it's exactly the opposite.

Both Costas and Ian could tell from Lucario's facial expression that he was _clearly_ aware of Mars's choice of action. Not only was Lucario clearly aware, but he was almost _annoyed_ by the fact that Mars lacked something beneficial: common sense. Because, rather than Mars simply accepting a loss as is and returning home, he would now attempt to risk it all out of something as basic as vindication, on an opponent that he has no hope of defeating, and never will.

"(Your adulterated nature of humanity will never change…)" Lucario pondered with a bored facial countenance, his eyes were half-opened as he heard smothered footsteps in the sand as Mars come closer and closer.

Mars, before contacting the Aura Pokémon, leapt into the air, and had his sword gripped tightly with both hands. The weapon itself was raised behind his back, Mars planning on delivering an overhead chop to the Pokémon that swiftly desecrated his authority. Before landing, Mars arched his sword forward and over his head, hoping to see Xeno's head split in two, like a parted pistachio shell.

However, all Mars saw was a blur of blue and black fur. He felt his sword catch onto something that he didn't aim for, and then he felt something strike his lower jaw. The force of that impact was severe enough to do two things to him: disarm his weapon, as well as send him flying into the air before crashing hard into the sand with a loud grunt from air forcibly escaping from his lungs, a full ten feet away from the Aura Pokémon.

Xeno Lucario, through his mind, replayed what he just did to his failed assailant. He swiveled 180 degrees to face Mars as the Roman General descended upon him with sharpened metal rushing towards him. He _caught_ the sword with his right paw as it came down upon his forehead, the Steel-Type properties of his skin—fortified by his earlier use of IRON DEFENSE—preventing any lacerations from forming on his right paw. To conclude, he _simultaneously_ disarmed Mars and sent him flying by using SKY UPPERCUT on his lower jaw, using his free left paw for the offensive technique—which he had curled up into a fist just prior to the uppercut attack.

Mars entire nervous system resonated negatively when he fell back down to earth. He groggily got back up, and clutched his lower jaw when he no longer needed his arms for supporting his weight. He immediately noticed that his lower jaw dislocated from Lucario's swift SKY UPPERCUT, and painfully realigned the joints of his lower jaw back into their proper sockets.

Mars looks back at Lucario, managing to notice him _snapping_ his sword into two pieces with his bare paws before casting them aside.

Seeing Lucario effortlessly snap his weapon only made his temper snap as well. "I'm not through with you yet, you dark blue bitch!"

"_Honestly, Mars… Where's your common sense?_" Lucario tilted his head slightly at Mars, looking at the human with a curious façade, when he was using TAUNT on him in actuality. "_Did I bury it in the sand, alongside your unsuccessful legion?_"

Mars roared before recklessly charging towards his smart-ass of an opponent again, his fists clenched as he planned on striking Lucario with them.

"_Resorting to a fistfight, Mars?_" Lucario continued to mock at Mars's tactics, never moving away from his spot, knowing well enough that he didn't need to.

The distance between both combatants was shortened in an instant, and Mars began to deliver punch after punch at Lucario's face and torso with remarkable speed. Lucario's body tweaked slightly with each blow he received, however his composure remained solid.

And as this was going on, both Costas and Ian watched on from a relative distance.

"Ian, don't you think that the Pokémon should move out of the way?" Costas said his opinion to his brother.

"I don't think that it's necessary," Ian stated. "Mars's attacks don't seem to be having any effect on it."

Mars found himself growing more and more fatigued after every dozen jabs that he launched at Xeno. His knuckles grew more and more gnarled to the pain that was being inflicted upon them, but he just kept going, his rage overcoming his ability to register pain.

"In fact, it seems to be the exact opposite," Ian continued. "I can see that Mars's knuckles are blistered and bruised. And yet he'll continue striking it until they begin to bleed."

Lucario began to feel Mars's punches _moisten_ his fur. He looked at Mars's knuckles every time the Roman General reeled them back to deliver another strike, and noticed that _blood_ blisters began to form. With each punch that Mars delivered now, some of his blood stained Lucario's fur, most of it concentrating on his stomach and face—areas of the body that Mars is martially trained to strike.

And despite the pain flaring on each of Mars's knuckles, he kept on going, his rage overwhelming him, as well as his sense of touch.

Lucario was beginning to get annoyed of this, especially once Mars began to bleed all over him. When Mars was about to deliver another punch, Xeno caught Mars's fist with his paw, coiling all three of his paw's digits around Mars's knuckles, and holding on tight. Mars basically attempted to punch Xeno with his remaining fist, only to have it caught by Xeno's other paw. He gripped both of Mars's fists tightly now, but not tight enough to have his grip slip by the blood that was staining his paws.

Mars stared on at the harsh countenance that Lucario had, at the blood red eyes that stared fatally into his soul, almost seeing the equivalent of a hellhound. He gritted his teeth and looked at Xeno rancorously, never once letting fear assimilate his judgment.

His rage already beat his sense of fear to the punch anyway.

"Get your paws off of me, you damn, dirty d—!"

Mars was quickly cut short when Lucario kicked Mars in the stomach with _both_ of his feet, hopping up and landing a double mule kick, one foot in tandem of the other, onto the stomach area of his breastplate. The DOUBLE KICK attack was so powerful that it not only dented Mars's armor, but it released him from Lucario's grasp and sent him flying back as well. Lucario, still remaining in midair, somersaulted backwards from this attack and landed on the sand with one knee and one foot.

Mars tumbled along the sandy surface for a respectable distance until he eventually regained his footing. However, he quickly dropped down to his knees and clutched his stomach with both arms. He was hunched over and coughing up a significant amount of blood onto the sand. His eyes were heavily bloodshot as he did so. The damage he endured to his abdomen _internally_ being vastly greater than it seemed externally.

"(Unbelievable…!) (*Cough**Cough**Wheeze*)" Mars thought spitefully, his mouth dripping of blood and saliva with every cough. "(How has a bipedal bitch dropped me down to my knees?) (*Cough*) (Me! The great and powerful Roman General Mars! It should be entirely vice versa! I should have him by the neck, begging me for—!)"

Mars's mind fell entirely silenced when he felt a blood-soaked paw grip the backside of his neck, and then hold onto his _entire_ weight. He became extremely discombobulated when he was being dragged over towards the Red Sea coastline.

Much to Mars's surprise, Lucario was _effortlessly _holding onto his neck with his left paw, and then proceeding over to the Red Sea.

"(What the…?)" Mars thought while simultaneously astonished by Lucario's strength.

"_For the record, you're not great and you're nowhere _near_ as powerful as you believe, especially when you're compared to me. From my perspective, you're only a megalomaniacal narcissist—egotistical and materialistic—who leeches life on pillaging the feeble and helpless. You're just a tormenter, a _tyrant_, to the eyes of your victims, and I was conveniently within your path of destruction, ready to aid those whom you targeted to beleaguer next. In inadvertently doing so, I quite _literally_ brought you down onto your knees. I was your opponent today, and you lost outright._"

"…" Mars paid enough attention to what Lucario said, and realized something about him. "…You referenced the same topics that I pondered…_twice_!"

"_I can read your mind and grasp your thoughts,_" Lucario said. "_It is one of the many abilities that I possess._"

"And you…used it to take out my entire legion?" Mars speculated.

"_Yes I did,_" Lucario admitted.

"And you…used it on _me_ as well?"

"_Absolutely not,_" Lucario said sourly. "_Your martial tactics were so hackneyed and repetitive—inflamed from your poisonous rage—, that I didn't even need to waste my energy into reading your next move._"

"…" At this exact moment, Mars didn't know whether to cry out of depression, or curse out of spite.

Xeno stops once he feels the waves of the Red Sea beach soak his feet, however he never lets go of Mars's neck. He stares on at the body of water, wondering how far it stretches.

"…Why are we here?" Mars wondered.

Lucario never answered Mars's question. Rather, he grinned somewhat, knowing well enough what he had planned for Mars.

"_Oh, look at you! You're all squalid and sweaty!_" Lucario mimicked Mars's degrading pet-like tone of voice that was used on him earlier. "_You're covered from head to toe with sand. And is that blood that I see on your face and hands?_"

"…" Mars rage began to build, however he was in too much pain to retaliate, and Lucario's grip on his neck restrained him too well.

"_I think you need a good bath. Do you want a bath?_"

Lucario, after degrading Mars sufficiently, decided to downgrade him further. He lightly threw Mars into the air, and then kicked him in the rear—as if he were a football—and sent him flying towards the Red Sea. Mars made a loud splash as he was assimilated into the water. However, he quickly appeared on the surface of the water, and was further astonished by Lucario's strength.

Before Mars's eyes, Lucario reactivated his Aura Vision ability and greatly focused his telekinetic abilities onto the water. He held his arms out, and swayed them up and down rhythmically, like the waves of the ocean. The water's response to this was immediate. The Red Sea began to grow a wave rivaling those of a tsunami. And once the wave was large enough, Lucario's body became stagnant. His eyes however, remained golden, because his active psychic abilities were the only thing keeping his SURF technique from returning to its former state.

Mars couldn't begin to fathom how Lucario was performing such a feat. The wave he saw before him was colossal—about the size of my house—and would likely bring him death if it were dropped on top of him.

Mars quickly pondered a question, and desired the answer to it.

"Your name… Tell me…" Mars talked to the Aura Pokémon. "What is your name…?"

Lucario, out of pity, figured he should just comply with this question.

"_Xeno Lucario, the mysterious Aura Pokémon. That is my name._"

"(Xeno…? Lucario…? Aura…? Pokémon…?)" Mars had Lucario's words stick into his minds adhesively. However, he failed to comprehend what Lucario spoke of. He didn't know what part of what Lucario just said was his name. He didn't even understand the words "Xeno", "Lucario", "Aura", and especially "Pokémon".

"_Now I know for a fact that I'm in another world,_" Lucario rolled his eyes and muttered—albeit with an unrestricted tone of voice—, sensing the confusion emanating from Mars's mind.

"(Another…world…?)" The confusion in Mars's mind ran rampant.

"…" Lucario gave Mars the half-eyed stare, finding the intelligence of the majority of humans of this timeline to be primordial. And rather than ponder over Mars's stupidity, he pointed his paw northward, his SURF technique immediately running over Mars, as if it were a car trampling over a squirrel in the middle of the road.

The wave, with all of the telekinetic power that Xeno put into it, traveled consistently north, upward on the Red Sea. It showed no signs of stopping—as if it were created from a sea-based earthquake—and would easily travel across the massive body of water, until it reached the northernmost point of the Red Sea.

Lucario disengaged his Aura Vision ability and was about to return to the village, however he heard Mars's words echoing in the distance. He alone was able to hear this with his sensitive hearing, and not the villagers.

"Xeno Lucario! I will seek your soul with every fiber of my being! I will hunt you down and _personally_ cleave you in two! I will follow you with everlasting malice, no matter where you go! You, alongside that stunted village that you bulwarked, will feel my impending wrath, you insolent, justified, motherfu—!"

Lucario wasn't able to hear Mars's final word—the distance proving too great for sound to travel consistently—, but he knew well enough that it was a spiteful expletive.

"(*Sigh*) (Humans and their…colorful choices in spiteful expletives…)" He smiled with his eyes closed and his head shaking side to side briefly. "(Why they enjoy calling their targets a maternal rapist is an enigma to me.)"

Lucario returned to the village as a guardian, a victor, and as a war hero, one that the village citizens accepted quickly rather than drive away. They quickly embraced him with congratulatory remarks, full-body hugs—where Lucario _promptly_ told them that they should avoid hugging him from the front, because of the bony protrusion on his sternum—, handshakes, tears of joy, and even a playful rub of the forehead.

All of this made Xeno feel good inside, for he now had a different viewpoint on humanity. He now understood and was beginning to embrace the flipside of human nature, the side where everybody is joyful, righteous, and selfless.

The side that is seldom seen on this world.

"So, you're name is Xeno Lucario?" Ian inquired.

Lucario nodded at Ian's assumption. "_You can call me 'Xeno', 'Lucario', or both if you so desire._"

"(It still sounds Japanese to me…)" Costas pondered to himself.

* * *

><p><em><span>21.4: Dusk over a New World<span>_

Location: My Village (Limit)

Date: December 8th, 59 A.D.

Time: 10: 03 AM

_At Dusk, I Will Think Of You.../Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Xeno Lucario, once he has his entire battle armor and utility belt strapped onto his being, is given a sack of assorted Berries by both Costas and Ian for his leave of the village. All of the villagers are present before the Aura Pokémon, bidding farewell to their second hero, who they now know the name of—but sadly, nothing much of anything else.

"Xeno, are you sure you want to leave this village?" Costas said to the Aura Pokémon.

"_I was brought to this parallel world against my will, without a clear method as to how to return home._" Lucario began to explain. "_I wish to find a way to return home, and my instincts tell me that I'll find a way if I decide to roam this world._"

"Where will you begin?" Ian inquired.

Lucario sighed through his nose and briefly looked at the sand below. "_I have no idea,_" he admitted.

Ian, after hearing Lucario's lack of a path, had this to say.

"Why don't you go and seek my banished brother Eduardo?" Ian suggested.

The name that Ian mentioned resonated through Lucario's fresh memories of yesterday's events.

* * *

><p>(Xeno Lucario's Flashback)<p>

_"And why should I?" Mars grinned evilly. "Your juggernaut Eduardo is no longer a resident of your village, and he is your only competent form of defense. Without him, this village is under the mercy of _anyone_ wishing to conquer it."_

* * *

><p>(End of Xeno Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"_Isn't that the name of the person that Mars was referring to?_" Lucario assumed.

Costas and Ian nodded.

"He is our adopted brother," Ian said. "His family adopted both Costas and I when we roamed the earth after our biological parents died."

"He is the youngest of us three," Costas added. "But the age difference between us three is only a few months."

This "Eduardo" person piqued Lucario's curiosity, and asking of him would satisfy it. "_What kind of a person is he?_"

"For starters, he'll turn twenty-seven years old by the start of the new year," Ian explained.

"(Assuming he's still alive…)" Costas trailed off in thought.

"He is a brilliant inventor, whom manufactured the laboratory and all of its technological contents from scratch as a small child."

"(One of which almost killed us with its gravitational pull…)"

"He is also a supernatural being, whom acquired his unfathomable abilities spontaneously, over a decade ago, in response to Mercury's invasion upon this village."

"(Why did the village have him banished…?)"

"He, of all of the people on this planet, should be able to help you with your dilemma." Ian speculated, having a lot of hope that I'd be up to the task.

Lucario understood the information that was said to him in a heartbeat. However, he still had a couple of questions to ask Costas and Ian.

"_Why was he banished? Why did you people drive away your protector?_"

"He was banished for the same exact reason that you just demonstrated yesterday," Costas explained. "He displayed abilities that were far too much for our feeble comprehensions to handle."

"Our people drove him out because they feared him, when they never should've because he fought for us and protected us." Ian continued.

"They understand that better now, especially after seeing what you've done for us, and hearing you reasoning behind your stalwart actions." Costas resumed. "My brother and I selflessly tended to your injuries, and you repaid us by eliminating Mars's presence."

"If Eduardo ever returns to this village, which I believe will never happen," Ian added. "We'll welcome him back and the villagers will beg for his forgiveness."

Lucario begins to ponder how a mere human can posses such power. "(How did he acquire his abilities in the first place? Did he have them ever since birth, and those said abilities remained dormant until needed?)"

Lucario then recalls a certain man in his life, one that he utterly despises.

"(Or did he acquire them through methods similar to what _Giovanni_ did with my Pokémon brethren?)" Lucario's mental tone of voice was darker and spiteful.

However, before Lucario could begin to hate me, he realized something decisive.

"(No, he's not like Mars and their civilization of corrupt megalomaniacs. Eduardo isn't a maelstrom of destruction and tyranny with his power. He willingly chose to protect the people around them, rather than enslave them or obliterate them, with the abilities that he unknowingly acquired. Even when they turned on him and banished him from his own place of residence, he didn't do the same.)"

Xeno also had this to think about.

"(However, for all that I know, a decade of banishment might've hardened his heart.)"

"You're clearly showing interest in him." Costas said, seeing a ponderous Lucario before him.

Lucario heard Costas's words and nodded.

"_Do you two happen to know where he is now?_" Lucario inquired.

Both of them only shook their heads in defeat, clueless as to my current whereabouts.

"_I didn't think so._" Lucario muttered.

"Is that a problem for you?" Ian inquired.

Lucario shook his head this time. "_No, not really… I can track him down on my own, utilizing the tracking techniques that I possess._"

And with that, Costas, Ian, and the Aura Pokémon bid each other farewell through one group hug—similar to the one that I had with the both of them prior to my leaving.

Lucario turned his back on the village citizens and their two village chiefs before walking off westward, towards the setting sun, before it disappears altogether. He plucks one of the Berries from the sack he was given—a Sitrus Berry, his personal favorite—, and commences biting into it. The sweet, tangy flavor that the moist skin of the fruit provided him proved nostalgic and a fitting snack to enjoy for as long as it lasted.

"(Even though I'm seeking my way home from this new world, I'm glad _you_ reside in this one as well as the world I came from.)" Lucario pondered contently at the Sitrus Berry that he was eating.

As Costas and Ian watched their mysterious new friend disappear over the horizon, Ian pondered about his banished brother…

"(How much of Eduardo has changed during his banishment? Does he now harbor any hate to the people that discarded him over a decade ago? Does he even care about his home? Does he even _care_ about either Costas or I?)"

…While Costas pondered what would occur if Xeno Lucario and I ever met.

"(Is Eduardo actually smart enough to help Xeno return home? Has he been tampering with dimensional travel recently, or has he yet to have it come to him through his dreams?)"

Then, Ian pondered the possibility that, during my banishment, I might've changed for the worst…

"(Has he changed enough to become _hostile_? What would happen if Xeno met him, and Eduardo would only want its death rather than its return home?)"

…While Costas pondered the possibility of a brawl between Lucario and I.

"(If Eduardo and Xeno Lucario ever clashed, who would win?)"

However, all of this mental speculation only left them with an overload of questions about an incredulous future. For all they know, they were engorging themselves with unnecessary dread, rather than relieving themselves with hopes of a brighter tomorrow.

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p>"Energy and persistence conquers all things." —Benjamin Franklin<p>

* * *

><p>...<p>

Yeah...I've pretty much exhausted myself with what I wanted to tell my fellow readers already. All that I have to say left is that my profile page is updated with what it is expected to have updated after every update.

...And that between now and around Christmas (where I'll update yet again FYI), I'm going to be spending a lot of time around three main topics: Pokémon, ponies, and playing on my Wii U console.

So, until then, good-bye for now.


	22. Chapter XVI (16)

Hit Count: 3,759

...

...

...Hello...? ...Is anybody out there?

Oh God... The Mayans were right. They predicted the end of the world! I'm the only one left!

...

...Heh, like _hell_ they did. It's already past Christmas and we're all still here. I never believed that "Mayan prophecy" crap for a second.

What did I do for Christmas? All I did was play, watch programs on Netflix, and write that day.

In terms of what I've played, I've still been playing on my Wii U, though sparingly because of a busy schedule and the fact that I only have one Wii U game (Nintendo Land) at the moment on it, and my Wii Remote Plus is presently loaned to a friend at the moment.

Aside of my Wii U (love it already), I've been on my 3DS practically every day. And because I'm on Winter Break, I can be on it for hours every day. Why, just recently, I finished _Hotel Dusk: Room 215_ within the time span of five days (clocking in 14 hours in-game). For those who don't know what that game is, it's a graphic novel-based game for the Nintendo DS, developed by Nintendo/Cing. It is a very well-received video game that has memorable characters and a rock-solid storyline that highlights each and every character. It even has a sequel (_Last Window: The Secret of Cape West_) that never received a US release, but thankfully the UK version works fine on the US DS or 3DS systems, if you ever decide to import it from there (I'd recommend Amazon for that).

I'm still playing _Pokemon Black 2_ as well, still working on those 18 medals that are earned by defeating the Elite Four under restricted Type attribures from your party Pokemon. I've earned the medals for Normal-Type and Fire-Type Pokemon, and I'm closing in on the Water-Type medal. As it stands, my present six Pokemon in my party (Blastoise, Kyogre, Manaphy, Milotic, Starmie, and Suicune) are within their mid-70s in level and have their effort values fully tended to. It's only a matter of time now.

In terms of what I've watched, it's still that show titled _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_, just one of many that I enjoy watching.

As it stands, I'm on episode 20 of the first season, and it's only that way because I take video games and TV shows in bits and pieces rather than in large chunks, meaning that I take my time and enjoy them in short bursts. I can definitely say that I'm a fan of the show. And to prove it, I hunted down an item that expresses both my fandom of Lauren Faust's brilliant series and serves a purpose to me rather than being a dust-collecting collectible.

I found and purchased (on eBay) a pair of over-ear headphones that have Rainbow Dash's color scheme present on them. I found them _completely_ by chance, and in the nick of time too because my last pair of over-ear headphones (golden-colored ones from Skullcandy for $58) broke recently. They only cost me $42.45, because they were, of all possible numbers, _20% off_.

I'm sure that fans of the series (bronies and pegasisters) will understand what that means. (*Cough*20%*cough*cooler*cough*)

What I find unusual though is that, when I took a look at the other MLP-inspired headphones, there were only seven that I noticed. There were six earbud headphones (with the designs of each and every Mane six pony on them) and only ONE over-ear headphones that had Rainbow Dash's color scheme on them.

I don't know if this is true or not, but it's quite likely that, as a whole, people like Rainbow Dash the most. And while I'm not the type of person that like to choose a favorite, I've come to acknowledge that.

I'll certainly enjoy and take good care of those headphones when they arrive in the mail. Although I should've bought a pair of black sunglasses as well alongside them, so that I can slip them on when haters are hating and tell them that they can "Deal with it".

...But thats enough digressing and I should return to what I promised to deliver.

To put it in short: this is it. This is the chapter that both Eduardo and Xeno Lucario meet.

Although, as you read on, you'll quickly realize that it's not so straightforward.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XVI (16): Intersecting Crossroads<strong>

Location: Saudi Arabia (Desert)

Date: January 10th, 60 A.D.

Time: 11:42 AM

On his search to locate the one and only person who can help him return home, Xeno Lucario traveled across the Earth, equipped with his entire suit of battle armor and the utility belt that contained the Poké Balls of all of his colleagues—as well as his own. He traversed across all forms of terrain—massive grasslands, frigid tundra and scorching deserts—in record time, his Fighting-Type attribute supplying him with the stamina that his ambitions require.

All throughout his travels, the only lead that he had to follow was the one that he speculated.

"(If this 'Eduardo' person is as powerful as both Costas and Ian said, then his aura should be plentiful enough for me to home in on, no matter where he resides on this planet. It should be a beacon of light that not even a Dustox can ignore.)" He pondered to himself as he strolled through the barrenness of the unforgiving Saudi Arabian desert heat. "(And I don't believe that he's dead either, not for a second. After all, if Eduardo possesses traits similar to my own, then he should be robust enough to survive critical situations that have occurred throughout his life.)"

Xeno never showed signs of heat stroke as he wandered across the massive desert. He used, every once in a while, an Ice-Type technique to cool and equilibrate his body temperature. He knew that he had a powerful resilience to heat, however he wasn't betting on his willpower overpowering the constant heat that the desert presented to him with each step that he took. He played it safe and cooled his entire body with occasional exhalations of ICY WIND when needed.

"(Of course, Earth is a massive planet.)" Lucario realized mentally, just before he exhaled ICY WIND on his arms. "(Searching for his specific aura signature on this planet would be the equivalent of hunting for a Relicanth in an ocean.)"

He then recalled the time he'd spent on this personal expedition.

"(I've been on this journey of mine for over a month, and still I've sensed nothing of him anywhere. However, I know better than to just give up. After all, a chance to return home—to _see_ my friends again—is on the line, and I'd be shattering that chance of mine into fragments if I ever decided to relinquish my morale.)"

All of a sudden, his stomach began to rumble. He stopped in his tracks upon feeling this empty feeling in the core of his body, and placed one of his paws on his belly.

"(Of course, as persistent and powerful as I am, I have limits and I need to respect them.)" He pondered, tapping his belly with the individual digits of his paw.

Xeno decided to look over the horizon for any sign of fauna life, anything that stands out from the ocean of sand that he treaded upon.

Sure enough, with the help of his helmet's visor's zoom function, he spots a solitary tree atop a grassy hillside, miles away from his current location. With the visor amplifying his vision, he's able to spot fruit in abundance on the tree, as well as the coastline of the body of land he was standing on, the Red Sea just further ahead of him.

"(A quick lunch break, and then I'll resume my search.)" Lucario pondered before he used EXTREMESPEED to dart over towards his current destination.

* * *

><p><em><span>22.1: The Hooded Figure's Spite<span>_

Location: 28°N, 34°E (Solitary Tree atop a Hill)

Time: 12:03 PM (Three Past Noon)

Xeno Lucario reaches the tree within a very short period of time, thanks to his EXTREMESPEED technique giving his running speed an exponential speed boost. He wastes no time in plucking a Berry from its foliage, using PSYCHIC to do so, rather than climb the tree to pluck a Berry.

When he has his plucked fruit held before his face, he is suddenly overcome with a sense of nostalgia, for the fruit that he had hovering in front of his face is a Sitrus Berry.

"(You reside even in _this_ world, you plump, yellow delicacy.)" Xeno pondered warmly before clutching the Berry with his paws, no longer using his mind to hold it.

As he was eating the Sitrus Berry, he eyed the tree from which he obtained it in broader detail. When he did so, he was able to see some natural wildlife residing within the tree's foliage.

He saw five green iguanas and five white cockatiels, all of which were huddled together and were chattering contently amongst each other.

Lucario recalled that, through his recent travels on this parallel planet Earth, the wildlife vastly differs from the Pokémon wildlife that he's grown familiar with back home. The core difference between the species of this parallel Earth and the Earth where he originally came from is that the species of wildlife here are referred to as "animals", and don't possess any supernatural traits whatsoever.

"(All of the wildlife on this world seems so basic…)" Lucario pondered before finishing the miniscule bit of Sitrus Berry that remained on his paw. "(…Well, compared to Pokémon anyway.)"

Before Xeno could telekinetically pluck another Berry from the tree, his sense of aura perception suddenly tingled sharply within his mind when he sensed a sudden concentration of aura around him. He activates his Aura Vision ability automatically and inspects what he's detecting.

He senses a pool of aura beginning to form nearby the Red Sea's coastline.

Before he could even begin to ponder the possibility of having finally found his target, Xeno realizes something abnormal about this aura that he was sensing.

The aura that he sensed reeked of malicious blackness, and was dense with extreme odium. The color of the aura represented this, appearing darker even than the sable night sky.

"(What is this?)" Lucario pondered while sensing this occurrence. "(This black aura… It's the epitome of malice!)"

Before he could make sense of this aura, the pool of black aura that he was sensing spontaneously formed a black sphere above it. The sphere appeared as large as a Roman chariot, and easily capable of enveloping one.

Lucario, deciding to take precautions against this bizarre phenomenon, took cover by stepping behind the tree before him. He concealed himself _completely_ behind the tree, making sure that it concealed every part of his body. His Aura Vision ability allowed him to bypass this bulwark, so he was still able to see what was occurring.

The sphere of black aura radiated forebodingly in the air with fire-like intensity, and continued as so for as long as it remained. However, as quickly as it appeared, it suddenly disappeared.

And when it did, it exposed the hooded figure that had unexplainably entered the black sphere from the inside.

Xeno Lucario, still sensing the pure essence of malice from the hooded figure, looked onward and discreetly.

_Strange Whispers/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD1 - Kingdom Hearts OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

The hooded figure, once his presence was brought to this space via the black sphere of aura, remained physically stagnant, and eyed the Red Sea that he sees before him, through the black hood that he wore over his head.

"Look at all of this cerulean water…" The hooded figure began to talk to himself, "…encumbering over two-thirds of this planet with its surplus, and hand-feeding life to its ever-present users."

The hooded figure walked forward a few steps, stopping once the waters of the Red Sea reached his feet.

"See how its tender coolness refreshes the body of those baking in this oven of a desert. See how the wind pushes and pulls it on this beach, constantly causing the waters to proceed and recede thousands of times in the sunlight."

"(Why is he soliloquizing?)" Xeno attempted to make sense of the actions of this being.

The hooded figure backtracked a few steps, once he felt the water soak the bottom portions of his sable robe. When he stopped, he eyed the sky, the sun in particular—albeit indirectly, since its light proved too strong for his eyes to compensate.

"See the sun, how it constantly encircles this planet with its light, and bathes us with its rays of warmth."

The hooded figure did an about-face, and eyed the tree that stood tall before him. Lucario's body twitched when the hooded figure faced the direction of his presence, his body instinctively ready to act while his mind attempted to comprehend the hooded figure's behavior. However, he had enough self-control to remain still, and he continued to eavesdrop what was occurring in his general direction.

"This tree, with its thousands of leaves and hundreds of groceries…" The hooded figure noticed the green iguanas and white cockatoos within the foliage. "See how it provides an adequate home for those aviary and reptilian creatures. See how they pass their everyday lives, content and lackadaisical."

"(The hell is going on here? Where is the malice that I'm obviously sensing from him?)" Xeno wondered as he continued to hear this haphazard soliloquy.

The hooded figure, all of a sudden, clenched his fists tightly. His knuckles cracked somewhat under the force of his strength.

"How I hate all of this so _much_!" The hooded figure shouted with deep stalwartness in his tone of voice. "How ecstatic I will become when I see all of this assimilated into the darkness, and obliterated from existence!"

"(…Now that's more like it. That's what I'm sensing from him.)" Lucario pondered when he connected the hooded figure's true emotions to his aura.

The hooded figure released the tight grip he had on his hands and looked down at the base of the tree. His eyes, despite looking at the roots of the tree, weren't focused on so. He was able to _transcend_ the physical existence of the tree and look at what resided _behind_ it.

And we all know what likes behind that tree.

"I know you're behind the tree, Xeno Lucario," the hooded figure spoke nonchalantly.

_(Song Ends Abruptly)_

The plain realization that the hooded figure knew of his presence caused Xeno's body to react negatively and suddenly in a few ways. To begin with, his eyes opened wider than he physically thought possible. His concentration to his Aura Vision ability was disrupted and departed from his use. He also could've sworn that he felt his heart skip a beat, and sink to his stomach. However, all that his heart did was pound at his sternum harder than normal, nervousness assaulting his circulatory system.

The hooded figure continued speaking warmly to him. "Come out from behind there. There's no reason for you to hide."

Lucario hesitates as first and remains where he is for a few seconds, allowing his body and his heart rate to stabilize. Eventually, he complies with the hooded figure, and exposes himself before him. He sticks his head out first, and then the rest of his body. He walks around the tree until he is directly in between the tree and the hooded figure.

"That's better." The hooded figure said with his hood shrouding his current countenance.

"_How do you know my name?_" Xeno asked, clueless as to how a being that he'd never met before knew his personal information.

"Let's just say…that I have my sources." The hooded figure said vaguely.

This answer proved to be inadequate for Lucario and he decided to use his Aura Vision ability to read his mind. He reactivates said ability and attempts to lock on at the thoughts of the hooded figure's mind. However, he can't bypass the aura of darkness bulwark that the hooded figure has enveloping him. He can't discern who the hooded figure _is_ underneath that sable cloak either.

"(Impossible…!)" Lucario was in disbelief at how his powers failed him. "(His aura is so dense that it's a shield to my eyes?!)"

"What's the matter, Xeno?" The hooded figure began to taunt the Aura Pokémon. "Am I too tough for your feeble abilities to crack?"

Lucario just scowled at his haughty remark, his fangs exposed somewhat when his face shriveled in frustration.

"Mindreading will get you nowhere with me. You'll never know what I'm thinking. It's far too much for you to fathom anyway, and would drive you to insanity in a heartbeat."

What the hooded figure just said about mental comprehension sparked a thought in Lucario's mind, a thought that centered against his intentions. He didn't want to say what was on his mind, but he also didn't want to have this thought nipping at the back of his brain. He decided to just say it and see what the hooded figure's response to it is, and hope that it was just mental nonsense.

"_Are…are you…Eduardo?_" Lucario asked the hooded figure, dreading getting his words out of his mind, for fear that it might be the truth.

"Eduardo?" The hooded figure responded. "You mean that inventive _genius_ of geniuses, that person who single-handedly annihilated a Roman armada with abilities that he unconsciously acquired?"

"_…Yes…_" Lucario muttered, dreading what the hooded figure's response would be.

The hooded figure shook his head in response to the Aura Pokémon's question. "No, I'm not him. I'm not Eduardo."

Xeno couldn't help but exhale a sigh of relief after hearing that.

"I'm not Eduardo…" The hooded figure chuckled ominously, "…or at least…not _yet_ anyway."

Xeno's curiosity peaked at what he just heard. "_What's that supposed to mean?_"

The hooded figure just briefly held out his right hand and waggled his index finger at Lucario, as if the Aura Pokémon was his pet dog and the hooded figure was scolding him. "No no. I can't tell you. It's not time yet, and anyway my mind is far more _closed_ than yours is."

Lucario took that as an insult. "_What, are you saying that my mind is easy for you to read?_"

The hooded figure shook his head again. "No, I'm not. I can't read minds. However, I don't need to. I know enough about you as it is."

"_…Such as?_" He said skeptically, his cynicism enveloping his countenance.

"You don't reside in this world. You come from a parallel planet Earth, one where the animals of that world are called 'Pokémon'. And said 'Pokémon' possess supernatural traits, some greater or lesser than others, but always distinct and diverse. You were born from an egg in the middle of a forest north of Celadon City. You trained for thirty months under the guidance of two other Pokémon—a Sceptile and a Riolu y the nickname of Tiny—, in order to defeat a genocidal Absol that plagued your respective species. You met a light-furred Lucario that nicknamed itself Wanderer, whom decided to live alongside the three of you. Afterwards, when you turned sixteen years of age, a human crime syndicate by the name of Team Rocket invaded your forest home, and laid waste to your friend Sceptile's tree house residence. You and Wanderer were captured by Team Rocket, shortly after they severely wounded Sceptile and killed Tiny. Once part of Team Rocket, you met a Lapras that was nicknamed Aqua, and a Garchomp that was nicknamed Terra. The three of you formed Team Liberator, hoping to escape from Team Rocket with all of the Pokémon that they held and had their way with. You befriended many other Pokémon in your brief career in Team Rocket, including a gene-spliced man-made Pokémon creation by the name of Mewtwo. You and all of your colleagues successfully escaped from Team Rocket. However you were deliberately the last Pokémon to escape, staying behind to ensure that the Rocket Boss Giovanni wouldn't follow. You encased him in ice and made your escape. You befriended a few more Pokémon before you returned to your forest home, where you confronted your friend Sceptile again, as well as a Latias, Latios, and the Absol that you defeated in the past. All of you reunited with your Team Rocket colleagues at Mirage Island, and then Latias and Latios disbanded from your party. Afterwards, you and your friends spent just over eight-and-a-half years in undoing the Pokémon pillaging that Team Rocket did, and fortifying those Pokémon so that they don't have a repeat outcome. After that, you and your friends hiked over to Spear Pillar, where you learned of a great prophecy involving you, just before Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia sent you over here to this world with their combined power. You met Eduardo's friends Costas and Ian and protected their village from Mars's battalion, and then they told you of that user of Elemental Aura. And as of now, you're searching for Eduardo, whom _might_ be able to help you return home, though the exact probability of that remains an enigma to you."

"…" Xeno's eyes were widened and his jaw was dropped after hearing a _full_ summarization of what he's done in his life. He was left greatly puzzled as to who the hooded figure was, and just where he learned about his accomplishments. "_Where did you get all of that information on my life?_" Xeno said with his flabbergasted facial expression.

"As I stated before: I have my sources." The hooded figure retained his status as an enigma.

Lucario, in an attempt to get to know more about this hooded figure, tried a different tactic.

"_What is your name? You know mine. Don't I at least deserve to know yours?_"

"…" The hooded figure paused for a moment and pondered if he should truly answer Lucario's question.

"_Well? What is your name?_" Xeno repeated himself.

"…My name? I don't have one." The hooded figure said truthfully.

"_You don't _have_ one?_" Xeno said, finding it unusual for someone to have no name. "_Well then, what _are _you?_"

"I'm just a nameless emissary of the Dark One." He stated truthfully this time, letting the identity of his source of information slip out of his mouth, though it didn't bother him in the least that he did so.

"_…The 'Dark One'?_" Lucario said, _immediately_ remembering where he heard those two words from. "(…Just like in that prophecy!)"

The hooded figure could tell from Xeno's facial expression that the mention of the "Dark One" struck a mental chord in Lucario's head, much as he expected it to.

"(This being must serve the Dark One.)" Lucario began to fit these puzzle pieces together in his mind. "(And if that's the case, then he must know something about the 'Void of the Dark One'!)"

Lucario, deciding quickly on his next action, removed all of the equipment that he had on his body by using PSYCHIC. He telekinetically set it all aside and placed it neatly on the base of the trunk of the tree behind him. Afterwards, he formed a battle stance towards the hooded figure, his eyes brimming gold—from his active Aura Vision ability—as he stared at the face of his target.

"_You hold _vital_ answers that I need, for my questions relating to the Void of the Dark One,_" Lucario spoke righteously. "_And if you decide to keep them locked within your mind, as you made clear to me earlier, then I'll just have to _pummel_ them out of you!_"

"…" The hooded figure didn't show any signs of the Aura Pokémon deciding to act martially before him. He showed no martial intent in response, nor fear or vindictiveness. He simply remained still and listened.

"_You, as the emissary of the Dark One, will repulse all of your knowledge of the Dark One before me! I will defeat you in battle, in order to obtain what I must know, and fulfill that prophecy!_"

The hooded figure decided to break his stillness by elevating his hand towards his head, gripping the tip of his hood in the process. "'It shall be bestowed with the key to unlocking the true potential of Pokémon. It shall be the catalyst to shattering the limit of four moves. It shall know unfathomable power that will rival the Original One. It shall save the world from falling into the Void of the Dark One.'"

Lucario didn't stagger back this time at what the hooded figure knew, for Xeno already accepted the fact that the hooded figure knew every single detail about him: what he's accomplished, what he's befriended, what he's endured, and what he's learned.

The hooded figure's hand, already gripping the top of his hood, pulled it down and behind the back of his head, exposing his face in its entirety before Xeno.

Xeno remained calm and focused, never undoing his battle stance when the hooded figure pulled down his cover. All he did was cement the hooded figure's countenance into memory.

"…Yes, I recall that prophecy quite well. To put it simply, it refers to a Pokémon that is Arceus's equal in power. A Pokémon that, as it grows more stalwart, makes those that it comes into contact with more stalwart as well."

Lucario didn't show astonishment at the fact that the hooded figure knew the name of the Original One—and the reason _why_ was one he recently committed as fact.

"You show _all_ of the traits that the prophecy foretells: potential, power, and prevention. You are clearly aware of your destiny, as the Pokémon of Prophecy."

"_…The 'Pokémon of Prophecy'?_" Lucario repeated this phrase, having heard it mentioned before when he encountered both Dialga and Palkia.

"However, you've _yet_ to acknowledge your full power. In fact, you're leagues behind your peak."

Lucario, after hearing this, slacked off in his stance somewhat. What the hooded figure said about him stunned him. However, he didn't remain off-guard for long. He regained the rigidity that his martial stance held, and continued to listen.

"As powerful as you've become, and as conscious as you are of what you're destined for, you're still an infant to your own strength."

"(Is this for real?)" Xeno learned something new about himself.

"And as an infant, you're much _easier_ for me to defeat."

"_…'Defeat'?_" Xeno repeated the hooded figure's last word. "_I'll take it then that you're willing to fight?_"

"I must, for the Dark One ordered me to do so." The hooded figure formed a stance of his own, and then grinned evilly. "In His eyes, He sees you as a viable threat to His ambitions, and you must be eradicated before you reach your true potential, before you genuinely become a danger that stands a chance at compromising Him."

"_Come at me then, with everything you've got._" Lucario said, moments before he charged towards the hooded figure.

* * *

><p><em><span>22.2: The Adopted Brothers' Request<span>_

Location: My Village (Limit)

Time: 12:37 PM (Thirty-seven Past Noon)

Within the outermost boundaries of my home village, my brothers and I resided, facing away from the village and eyeing the horizon before us. We stepped out of here after I told my brothers that I had a method as to locate Xeno Lucario. Of course, since I never explained to them what my method was, they asked me again out of curiosity.

"So, what exactly _did_ you have in mind?" Costas inquired.

I remove my S2-PTSDOv.2 device from my left-side holster and open its interface. "Just watch and learn," I tell my brothers.

"Alright then," Ian responded. "You know what you're doing after all."

I set my handheld device's TCP—Total Control Program—and VCP—Voice Command Program—on in tandem, and then I said "S2-PTSDOv.2, connect to all twenty-six S3-OSS devices" with an authoritative tone of voice.

As I commanded, all twenty-six of my S3-OSS devices flew off from their respective holding slots on my S2-PTSDOv.2's shoulder strap. And just as well, they darted straight upwards, thousands of feet towards the sky, before flying off in all directions at Mach 2.

With all twenty-six of the S3-OSS devices out of our optical reach, I observed their locations through my S2-PTSDOv.2 device's GPS feature. And once the devices traveled through their individually programmed supersonic flight patterns, what they were able to see through their optical lenses, I was able to see.

As I scrolled through each and every S3-OSS device's optical lens through my S2-PTSDOv.2 device, my brothers couldn't help but ogle the device that I was holding, and _marvel_ at its otherworldly appearance.

Off of the corner of my eyes, I could see my brothers at both sides beside me, attempting to make sense of what I manufactured. I couldn't help but smile at their child-like curiosity, and decided to feed it.

"You both want to know what I just built, am I right?" I said with a friendly, supportive tone of voice.

They both nodded their heads, in complete agreement at what I said.

"Alright then, but I'll just give you the key details, and I'll explain the rest later," I said before recollecting my thoughts and simplifying my latest installment of "S-Rank" devices. "This device in my hands is version 2.0 of my S2-PTSDO device. The 'PTSDO' stands for 'Personal Two-Screen Digital Omni-computer', or you could just call it 'Different System' for short. It's a _supercomputer_ of supercomputers, and is capable of controlling and _becoming_ other technological devices, excluding my S1-GS device."

"And what were those spherical capsules that darted off into the sky?" Ian wondered.

"Those were my S3-OSS devices, the 'OSS' standing for 'Optical Surveillance Sphere'. I manufactured twenty-six of them, each of which I assigned a different letter of the alphabet—as well as a different aesthetic design—to distinguish them individually if they cluster. They are able to fly off at Mach 2 because of the powerful, nano-compacted, electromagnetism technology—which reacts _only_ against the Earth's gravitational field—that allows them to hover and dart in any physical direction. They serve me as separate eyes in the sky, and are capable of seeing an object as small as a grain of sand from a distance of five miles in the sky."

Ian stood in mild confusion at what I just told him, but couldn't shake off this feeling of me. "You practically have a sixth sense with technology." Ian complimented me.

"I suppose I do," I believed. "It's easily one of the strongest topics that I dedicate my mind to after all."

Costas, rather than show the same feelings as Ian, stood in place and pondered something about the S3-OSS devices that I had. "(Why can't I help but feel as though I've _seen_ those same designs on something else before?)"

I decided to get back on topic. "So what exactly does this 'Xeno Lucario' character look like?" I inquired, never seeing this creature for myself with my own eyes.

Now it was my brothers' turn to describe him to me in key detail.

"Xeno is clearly unlike _anything_ else that this world has in terms of wildlife." Ian said.

"Just look for anything bipedal, dark blue, and jackal-like with those Optical Surveillance Spheres of yours," Costas said. "It shouldn't be too hard a task with the unbelievable specs that you gave them anyway."

"Alright then," I said before typing in those three key words—bipedal, dark blue, and jackal-like—into the touch-screen keyboard interface of my S2-PTSDOv.2 device.

Once my S3-OSS devices received these key words, they began to locate objects that applied to all three key words. They darted back and forth across the Earth's landscape, scanning each and every piece of land that they hovered highly over. They even automatically resorted to using their various lens functions—Infrared, Night, X-Ray, and Zoom—during their observations, depending on their current location. Their optical eyes allowed them to scan the areas that they flew over thoroughly, even when flying at Mach 2.

"Now, this might take a while, considering the grand scale of this planet." I explained to my brothers, before closing my S2-PTSDOv.2 device and storing it away. "We should probably return home and have some lunch while we wait."

My brothers agreed with me, and we returned home to take advantage of this impetus hiatus.

* * *

><p><em>One hour and lunch later…<em>

Moments after my brothers and I finished our midday meal, my S2-PTSDOv.2 device received feedback from one of my S3-OSS devices. I was immediate in responding to it, and retrieved my S2-PTSDOv.2 device before opening it.

"What is it?" Costas asked me.

"Did Xeno turn up?" Ian inquired.

"Let's see…" I checked the information provided to me through my device and read it out loud. "Feedback received from S3-OSS.X. Coordinates location is approximately…twenty-eight degrees north and thirty-four degrees east."

"…" My brothers didn't know what to make of that chain of numbers, and simply continued to listen.

"How queer…" I recalled. "This is the same exact place where I clashed with that dragon almost a decade ago."

My brothers, choosing to listen to me, now wondered what they just heard me say.

I could tell from their countenances that they were curious to what I just said. "Yeah, you two heard right. I clashed with a fire breathing _dragon_ almost a decade ago. It looked eerily similar to what I transformed into earlier. The only core difference between the one that I confronted and the one that I _became_ is our color scheme. The dragon I clashed against was night-black, while I appeared pure white."

"My God, you've been through so much during your banishment," Ian said with a sincere tone in his voice.

"I know," I responded. "And as a parting gift, it left me blind in my left eye, which is what this eye patch is for." I said before lifting the patch off of my eye and showing my brothers the complete whiteness of the sclera that my left eye possesses now, with a complete absence of an ash-black pupil or iris within it.

The look on my brothers' eyes showed that they had pity to my injury. They knew that this type of injury wouldn't have occurred to me if I remained here. However, if I remained here when the village citizens decided to drive me out, I would've likely sustained _more_ damage, and perhaps even lose my life in the process.

Of course, with my power that seemed unlikely.

Regardless of what could and could _not_ have occurred, the fact that I'm here is enough for them to shake off the past and ponder more interesting matters—such as the dragon clash that I had.

Knowing that my brothers will ask me later about that fight, I decided to set it aside and manually operate my S3-OSS.X device through my Different System.

Using the Zoom function of my Optical Surveillance Sphere, I homed into the area of land that I grew familiar with during my banishment. The terrain of the land remained relatively unchanged. The Berry-budding tree that I placed on the tip of this hill remained there. The five green iguanas and five white cockatoos nestled within its foliage were there as well. The Red Sea that this body of land resided nearby remained pristine and tranquil. And even the grass that resided on the hill remained green and undisturbed.

However, there were a _few_ abnormalities to this peninsula of the Red Sea that I couldn't avert my S3-OSS.X's eyes from.

A bipedal, dark blue and jackal-like body was left lying on the hillside, staining the grass sanguine with blood. And just nearby this scene, there were five Roman nomads traveling close by to this scene. Those five nomads stopped themselves in their tracks once they noticed this abnormality, and approached the scene.

"(Bipedal, dark blue, and jackal-like…)" I pondered these key words as I stared at this hemorrhaging canine-like organism. "(This is indubitably…)"

"Xeno Lucario!" Costas shouted unexpectedly when he identified the body lying on the grass on my S2-PTSDOv.2 device's screen. "Oh my God, what happened to it?!"

The shout that Costas made delivered a sharp jab to my ears and startled me somewhat. However, I remained strong and wondered where this was going.

"Eduardo! You _need_ to take us there right now!" Ian begged me, speaking with panic in his voice. "Who _knows_ how long Xeno's been bleeding like that."

Remaining calm through this likely crisis, I say "I understand" before inputting the command for all of my S3-OSS devices to return to me.

Because my S3-OSS.X device already locked onto its intended target, all of the other S3-OSS devices were already on their way back. The command that I inputted merely called back my S3-OSS.X device alongside my other devices. And with the head start that the other twenty-five S3-OSS devices were given, they all arrived back to my location within a minute, quickly reapplying themselves to their respective slots.

Once they were all back on my shoulder strap, I close and put away my S2-PTSDOv.2 device within its respective holster. Next, I pluck four of my S3-OSS devices—uncaring as to which ones I grasped specifically—and lend them to my brothers, two for each of them.

"Now, as I've stated earlier, these devices can travel at twice the speed of sound," I explained with greater alacrity in my voice. "However, neither of you are capable of withstanding that. So instead, I'll travel ahead at full speed so I can reach our location quickly. And, if you're aerodynamic, you'll follow behind me at ten percent of that speed."

My brothers held an S3-OSS device on each hand and nodded in understanding my statement. They didn't show fear at all of being taken for a ride by the devices that I lent them, for they knew that fear would impede this critical situation.

"Alright then," I said before plucking two more S3-OSS devices from my shoulder strap, and then emanating my Light Green (Wind) Aura in moderate quantities. "I have an Aura Pokémon to save."

With those last words, we all rushed outside of my home and ran towards the village's outside borders, myself ahead of my two brothers. And as we ran, I commanded my Light Green (Wind) Aura to form the _Aero Sphere Twister_ technique—the _very_ same technique that I used against that dragon clash years earlier—around me, using said technique as a windscreen to bulwark my body against the wind that would normally slow me down as I fly at Mach 2.

I gave the command to the six S3-OSS devices that we all held in our hands to fly over to the coordinate location that my S3-OSS.X marked. In an instant, the devices that we all held catapulted us into the air and launched us forward once we reached an appropriate height in the sky. We all flew northwestward, I at _1400_ mph and my brothers at 140 mph.

Within our minds, we all hoped that we weren't too late, to save the Pokémon that my brothers loved and that I've yet to meet.

* * *

><p><em><span>22.3: The Unique Boy's Rage<span>_

Location: 28°N, 34°E (Solitary Tree atop a Hill)

Time: 2:05 PM

The five Roman nomads that my S3-OSS.X device pinpointed noticed Xeno Lucario's stagnant, stained body on the hillside. They all approached him and surround his body with their presence, each and every one of them taking note of his injuries.

"Look at the magnitude of its injuries," The first nomad said.

"They cover every square inch of its body," The second nomad continued.

"Some just graze the skin, while others are scratching into the bone," The third nomad noticed.

"With the amount of blood that it's lost, it's most likely dead," The fourth nomad believed.

"Dead or not, I've never seen such a creature before. It might be an extremely rare species, one which we'll never see again," The fifth nomad assumed, before looking back at his associates. "How much do you all think it'd be worth—its bones, its fur, and its meat—if we salvage it and sell it back at the Roman market?"

All five of them ponder an economical value on Xeno Lucario's body. And within seconds, they grin at the thought of what he'd be worth. The solitary thought that he's an _extremely_ rare species would guarantee the five Roman nomads his exact weight in gold.

Before they could begin to fantasize themselves living luxurious lives, I make my presence know to them in a heartbeat.

I touch down about a dozen feet from their exact location, almost leaving a crater with the force that I landed down with. The _Aero Sphere Twister_ technique that I had in effect was quickly dissipated and deliberately directed towards the five Roman nomads. The power of the technique was more than enough to blow them all off of their feet and knock them backwards about twenty feet and onto their rears. Xeno however, was spared from a similar course of action—he being low to the floor as is, the wind just shuffling his fur—and remained unmoved, likely from his Steel-Type defense mechanism in effect.

I disengage my Light Green (Wind) Aura and simultaneously put away the two S3-OSS devices that I held on each hand within their respective slots. With that out of the way, I directed my full attention towards Xeno and proceeded over towards his body.

I stopped before him just as my foot was about to tap at his side. I looked down at the solemn sight before my functioning right eye, and take into account Xeno's critical injuries.

"(Your flesh butchered deeply… Your blood hemorrhaging profusely from each and every assorted lesion inflicted upon you…)" I diagnosed the horrific damage below me and my mind began to boil and tighten with elevating rage. "(I can't even _hear_ your heartbeat… is it beating too faintly for me to hear?)"

I decided to crouch down to Xeno's level of lowness and place two fingers to the side of his neck, hoping to feel for any signs of life.

_**…**_

For the few seconds that my fingers were on his neck, I felt nothing that could be classified as a heartbeat. Only the coldness of his skin and the dampness of his blood-soused fur were what I could feel.

I stood back upright and looked at my hand, Xeno's blood marking my fingers a noticeable red. Accepting this clear as day, I set my hand to my side. Both of my hands tightened themselves out of building madness, fueled from the fact that what I reluctantly assumed is true.

"(…I guess not…)" I thought solemnly, my countenance as stagnant as a rock at the moment, my right eye staring down at the Pokémon that I was too late to save.

Ahead of my field of vision, the five Roman nomads shrugged off the gale knockback that I inflicted upon them and stood back upright, never thinking otherwise at how I was able to do so. They all knew me—or to be more precise, my actions—through wildfire news about me, and couldn't help but ponder what I was doing here.

They took notice as to how I was looking down at the Aura Pokémon, and mentally taking note of his injuries. They, being as avaricious as they were earlier, were all quick to assume that I pondered what they pondered. And with no sense of mental reluctance, they decided to speak to me.

"Say, do you think you can do us five a favor?" The first nomad spoke up.

"We believe that creature is dead, and would just go to waste if left here for the buzzards to devour." The second nomad added. "It seems like an extremely rare species as is."

"So we thought that it'd be a good idea for us five to salvage it and take it back with us to Rome." The third nomad preferred.

"With your abilities, you can dice it up to the bones, fur, and meat that it's consisting of in record time." The fourth nomad speculated.

"But before you do, have you any idea how much it's worth?" The fifth nomad inquired.

The solitary fact that these people would put _wealth_ over life caused my mind to seethe in spite. I looked back at the Roman nomads with a silent, spiteful countenance. A hateful glare was present on my right eye. My fists, clenched as tight as physically possible, suddenly began to spark small amounts of aura. The aura however, appeared as a color different than all of my previous ones.

The aura sparking from my hands was as black as the night sky.

"(To disrespect something as precious as nature, over something as squalid as _money_…)" My mind spoke with an unnerving malevolence rising from within my being. "(…That's a death wish that I'm _more_ than willing to fulfill.)"

The black aura that my hands were emanating quickly started to emanate from other areas of my body. The aura eventually surrounded my entire body, with a field that stretched about two feet from any given point of my body. The strength of the aura surged around me like a typhoon of malice, with enough force to fluster my hair, as well as the grass that resided around me.

My body, out of vindictiveness, had unlocked a new Elemental Aura ability that lied dormant within me.

_**FATAL MALICE THAT RETURNS ALL TO THE DARKNESS FROM WHENCE IT CAME!**_

_**EDUARDO HAS LEARNED HOW TO USE **__**BLACK (DARKNESS) AURA**__**!**_

_**CHAOS-KINESIS UNLOCKED!**_

Before the Roman nomads could make sense of this, I decided to answer the fifth nomad's question.

"…Worth?" I said with an uncanny calmness in my voice, despite my mind drowning in my temper. "…About five lives."

_Desire for All That Is Lost/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD3 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

"'Five lives'…?" The fifth nomad repeated my words, unsure of what I meant. "What do you mean by—?"

Without a sound in my footsteps, I dashed over to the closest nomad from my general placement—the first Roman nomad. With my right hand stretched forward from my body, and forming the shape similar to the tip of a spear, I jabbed straight towards that nomad's sternum, and had my hand come out between his shoulder blades, completely coated in the victim's blood. His heart was split into two from within his chest, my arm having to reach elbow-deep into him in order to do so.

The nomad never saw me coming, and his body went limp when his heart no longer functioned. He would likely ponder what met his end during the afterlife.

"(_Chaos impale_…)" I thought with a monotone mental voice.

The other four nomads didn't see me move from one place to the other. They only saw me suddenly present myself before the first Roman nomad, with my right arm piercing the chest cavity where his heart once was. My reaction time was far too great for their minds to comprehend, and caused their better judgment to lag severely.

With a dead Roman supported only by the rigidity of my right arm, I decided to dispose of his body in the only way that I could see fit. I retract my arm from his chest and kick him forcefully into the Red Sea nearby our presence. His body sank into the depths of the water, leaving a bleeding trail as he descended.

Before setting my sights on the other four Roman nomads, I look briefly at my right arm and notice how it's completely coated in the blood of my first victim. To rid my right arm of this immaterial sanguineness, I cause my Black (Darkness) Aura to flare more powerfully on the targeted area of my body. The blood quickly smoked away in the form of black and red vapor under the intensity of my aura.

With that out of the way, I glare at my remaining enemies. "Four lives…" I counted down, speaking with a frightening nonchalance in my voice.

The second Roman nomad didn't take too kindly to this action of mine, and decided to respond verbally.

"What in Jupiter's name is your problem?!" The second nomad spat spitefully. "We ask you to help us, and you suddenly decide to pierce one of my friends through his heart! What the hell would compel you to—?!"

My right hand suddenly clasped onto his face, causing himself to silence at the sheer astonishment at my speed in reaching him. His eyes, through the gaps of my fingers, clearly picked up on my facial countenance. He noticed that my facial expression clearly showed signs of vengeance, but of what he couldn't fathom.

Before he could begin to fathom my reasoning however, my right hand—the one blinding some of his field of vision—suddenly began to concentrate small amounts of my Black (Darkness) Aura.

With the same Elemental Aura ability giving me strength, I lifted the nomad off of his feet, gripping the sides of his face tightly with my single-hand grip while simultaneously building up power in the palm of my right hand.

Once I felt as if I'd generated a sufficient amount of energy, the words "(_Chaos Palm_…)" echoed once within my mind.

The helpless nomad never expected when this attack would come, and sustained the full force of this attack when it occurred. His entire face was consumed by a mid-size sphere of Black (Darkness) Aura that I let loose from my palm, and then it was clouded by a thick layer of smoke that the Black (Darkness) Aura became once it dispersed into the air. The rest of his body jerked somewhat by the attack, before it fell limp and lifeless.

Once the smoke cleared, the remaining three Roman nomads could see the full range of my _Chaos Palm_ technique. They noticed that the _entire_ face of the nomad victim was charred and smoldered from the pointblank range of my technique. Any hair that the nomad had was gone, and any form of facial recognition was rendered null.

Before throwing his body into the Red Sea, I noticed the sheathed sword that he had strapped onto the right side of his waistline and obtained it with my free left hand. Afterwards, I threw his head—and the remainder of the body that his neck connected—into the water, where he met the same end as my first victim.

"Three lives…" I counted down again, facing the remaining three nomads with a sword in my left hand.

The third Roman nomad now knew that words wouldn't change my reasoning, and decided to resort to offense. He reached for the sheathed sword strapped to the right side of his waistline and charged straight towards me with his sword in hand.

Rather than do the same, I hold my ground and anticipate his arrival.

The third nomad, once he closed the distance between us, began to swing at me from every possible angle. However, I was easily able to anticipate each sword swing, and act accordingly against each type. So whenever he swung towards me vertically, I side-stepped. And whenever he swung at me horizontally, I held my sword defensively to parry his swipe. And when he decided to lunge forward, I stepped back, just narrowly avoiding the tip of his sword.

Seeing how he is the one on the offensive while I'm on the defensive, the Roman nomad let his cockiness overshadow his better judgment.

"What's the matter? Am I too formidable for you to retaliate?" He smiled smugly before resorting to forward sword lunges, watching me step back as he moved forward.

"…" I remained calm and focused on his technique, waiting for a proper moment to retaliate, and with _fatal_ results.

"All you can do is lunge back at my might! You can't even lay a finger on—!"

He suddenly silenced himself when I decided to side-step from his lunge, and then _grabbed_ his sword arm with my free right hand, tightly and with considerable energy emanating from my Black (Darkness) Aura.

Rather than attempt to struggle from my grip, he looked at my face, noticing how transparent it was to whatever taunts he threw my way. He noticed the severe solemnity of my countenance, the pitch blackness of my eyes that my Black (Darkness) Aura bestowed upon me, an overall facial expression that was single-mindedly _focused_ on retribution, for the desire of what has been lost.

…A retribution that will only be quelled with the death of these five nomads.

However, before he could make sense of this, I turned the tables on him and went on the offensive.

Having properly immobilized his sword arm, I mutilated it with my blade, severing it cleanly off of his body, and disregarding any blood that was flying out from either end, and any cries of pain that resulted. And still holding onto his arm, I reconfigured it so that I was holding onto the end of his arm, effectively wielding two swords now—one sword held onto by his arm, which I held onto with my own.

Before he could take into full account his mutilation, I quickly hacked off his other arm with a vertical slice of my left sword, then both of his legs with a low horizontal sweep of his former sword, and finally his _head_ when I brought both swords through his neck with a scissor-like motion.

Again, death was quick for him. His assorted body parts lay on the grassy floor, bleeding profusely and seeping into the dirt. His sword arm that I held onto was quick to join this pile of flesh and bones, his sword still remaining in my possession and his arm no longer.

Deciding to dispose of this corpse in a different manner, I decided to raise the swords that I held onto high above my head, my Black (Darkness) Aura engulfing them both and giving them power.

"(_Chaos Impact_…)" Those two words echoed in my mind before both swords came crashing down onto the corpse, quickly engulfing the area in front of me with a sudden updraft of explosive black aura.

The detonation of the energy that was concentrated within each of my blades was violent and instantly injurious on the lifeless corpse. His body parts were obliterated and no longer physically existent. All that remained of him was the blood that seeped into the dirt.

"Two lives…" I countdown again, vehemently eyeing the remaining two nomads with both blades in a tight grip on my hands.

Both of these nomads, after seeing the brutality that occurred to their three fellow comrades, finally decided to show their survival instincts. Before my eyes, they suddenly began to run away from my presence, whining as if they were terrified puppies with their tails between their legs, each of them fearful of my power and protective of their insignificant lives.

Seeing this made no difference in my thoughts towards them, and I'd kill either of them as I did with the three nomads before.

I ran after them, my Black (Darkness) Aura leaving sable streaks of smoke before my treaded path. Before I begin to approach them, I toss one of my swords over to the nomad that was closer to me, launching it horizontally and having it rotate around its center, as if it were a buzz saw run amok.

The fleeing nomad that I targeted had no chance of seeing this attack coming, for he never looked back as he continued to run forward. So when the spinning sword lopped off _both_ of his legs—just above the ankles—, and caused him to fall onto the ground, he knew now that there was no escape.

He could only see me run towards him, jump high into the air, and then descend down onto his torso with the other sword that I held onto, holding it pointed downward with the drive of impaling him.

The remaining nomad decided to gamble his life by stopping in his tracks and looking back. When he did so, he could see that I'd killed the fourth nomad, having landed directly on top of him, the sword stabbed through his ribcage, and left there _deliberately_ when I stepped off of him, as if his body were a slab of stone for my acquired sword to rest upon.

Now the fifth Roman nomad resumed running, fearful for his life. He was so terrified in fact that he tripped over himself a couple of times as he ran. However, he was quick in gathering himself back upright and continued running, panting and whimpering somewhat from fatigue and fright.

"One life…" I counted down, looking at the fleeing nomad and never looking away from him for even a moment.

Making sure that his presence was directly in front of me, I outstretch my arms and clasp my hands together, aligning the tip of my knuckles so that they were pointing at the fleeing nomad.

Deciding to put in most of my energy for this final attack, I channeled my Black (Darkness) Aura within the palms of my clasped hands. The energy that I decided to spend was still plentiful, and would make for one devastating—and likely _overkill_—attack.

My hands began to forcibly separate as a black sphere—with a menacing swirling energy core in the center—began to form between my palms. The sphere grew greater and greater in diameter, so long as I kept feeding it my power. As it simultaneously grew, my aura field diminished in intensity—all of it transferring over to my palms and becoming the black sphere. And once the sphere grew to the size of a compact car, I stopped channeling energy into it—having next to nothing to give anymore—, and held it high above my head.

With whatever leftover Black (Darkness) Aura I had, I transferred it over to my legs, in order to leap dozens of feet high into the air. The instant that my feet no longer touched the ground, I rotated my body forward, front-flipping a few times—gripping tightly the black sphere of energy against gravitational forces—, using centripetal force to strengthen my throwing strength.

"(_Chaos Aura Sphere_!)" Those three words echoed strongly within my mind before I fired the black sphere towards my target.

My technique menacingly homes in on the fleeing Roman nomad with surprising speed. And despite its massive size, he is surprisingly unaware of its presence. Not even the fact that the sphere was large enough to temporarily distort the field of space that it passed through—creating indescribable warping sounds of the air that it cut through—caused him to turn around to face it.

His fear kept his eyes forward, fully focused on getting from Point A to a far enough Point B without tripping over himself once more.

However, no matter how far he ran, or how quickly he was running, he couldn't evade my _Chaos Aura Sphere_ for long. Eventually, my technique caught up to him, consumed him, and warped his body away into nothingness. My technique disappeared after flying a few hundred feet farther forward, leaving behind no trace of its existence, or that of its victim in any way whatsoever.

When I landed back on the ground, only one phrase escapes from my mouth, in response to vanquishing the last Roman nomad.

"Xeno's life is Incalculable."

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><em><span>22.4: The Mysterious Pokémon's <span>_Agony

Time: 2:17 PM

As soon as the battle concluded, both of my brothers caught up to my general location. They hovered down towards the ground and landed gently rather than spontaneously—as I did when I arrived here—unable to withstand greater forces of impact than I am. They landed nearby Lucario and approached his cadaver, looking down and assimilating the damage that the Aura Pokémon had sustained into their mental comprehension.

_Scent of Silence/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD8 - Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

"My God…" Costas muttered in bewilderment at Xeno's injuries.

"What happened to you…?" Ian did the same, unsure what exactly was the primary cause of this.

Both brothers suddenly heard footsteps across the grass and tilted their heads level so that they were able to see me walking towards them. They noticed that I had a serene countenance, as if I had taken care of an errand.

This made them recall the five Roman nomads that were around this area when they glimpsed at my S2-PTSDOv.2 device. Both brothers looked around the area and noticed no trace of any of the five Roman nomads nearby.

…Well, aside from their spilled blood across the grass, as well as the deceased body of a nomad, with a sword stuck through his torso and left there without any further need.

"Did we miss something?" Costas inquired me.

"What happened to those nomads?" Ian did the same.

I stopped walking when I was within reach of my brothers, as well as within kicking distance of the Aura Pokémon. And with a faint smile on my face, I told them both "Let's just say that they can't harm another miracle of nature ever again."

The fact that they were able to see evidence of bloodshed around the vicinity—bloodshed that was not Xeno's—quickly allowed the both of them to realize what occurred here.

"I see…" Costas mumbled.

"There's hardly anything left of them…" Ian did the same, attempting to locate the other four nomads with his eyes, only to give up within seconds.

The three of us all looked down at the Aura Pokémon before out feet, noticing how badly wounded he was and how pale his color was starting to become, with his lack of blood causing his overall manifestation to fade.

My brothers handed back to me the four S3-OSS devices that I let them borrow, and I strapped them back onto my person.

"So this is Xeno, huh…?" I inquired rhetorically, storing away my devices in their respective slots simultaneously.

They all mutter faint sounds of agreement to me.

"My God, look how anorexic it is." I spoke with mild concern.

"Oh no, Eduardo," Ian looked up to tell me. "It's always been like that."

"…Seriously?" I said dubiously, looking up at his face.

Ian nods in response to my skepticism.

"Are you sure it didn't just starve itself over the past month in trying to locate me?"

Now Costas tilted his head level to look at me. He shook his head in response to my assumption.

"Jesus Christ…" I look back down at Xeno's body, eyeing in particular the hourglass shape of his torso, showing further astonishment at his natural constitution. "I could form a circle as wide as physically possible with my fingertips connected together, and its waistline wouldn't even fill in the gap within my hands."

After that statement, I decided to get back on topic, and focus on Lucario's extensive lacerations. I kneel down to his level and counted each and every laceration on the front side of his body.

"In total, I see about fifty lacerations on the front side of Xeno's body," I said. "Each one has varying depth to them. Some just graze across the outermost layer of skin, while others are deep enough to have sunlight reach directly into the bone."

"…" My brothers remain uncomfortably silent as I stated Lucario's diagnosis.

"And this is just the front side of its body," I said before causing my eyes to momentarily flash Purple (Psychic) Aura, allowing me to lift Lucario up a couple of feet off the ground, rotate his body 180 degrees, and then set him down—_gently_—on his belly.

"…!" My brothers' eyes were immediately widened at the sight of Lucario's backside.

Xeno had an entire _second_ _collection_ of lacerations across his backside, just as plentiful—and as sanguine—as the set on his front. They were mostly concentrated on his back. However, there are a few on his legs and the back of his head. There were even a couple that cut across the dreadlock-like appendages that dangled behind his head.

"Oh God, it's as I feared…" I said with an elevated level of concern. "Xeno has another fifty lacerations on its back, just as varied in depth as the ones on its front."

"…" My brothers showed signs of emotional distress as I continued giving my expert opinion on Lucario's injuries.

"And judging by how pale its materialization has become, I'd say that it's been losing blood within the time span of an hour."

"…" My brothers were within their threshold for breaking out in tears.

"I don't want to be the harbinger of dreadful news, but…" I pause to inhale and exhale once, knowing well enough where I'm going with this. "…Xeno Lucario is clinically dead. We came far too late to save it."

For some reason, my brothers didn't break into tears as their solemn countenances suggested. Rather, they looked at me with distrust, and had this to say to me.

"You're lying, Eduardo." Costas said lowly.

"I don't believe you." Ian frowned at me.

"What's not to believe? The evidence before us is as clear as day." I said, pointing my finger at Xeno's lifeless body. "Xeno Lucario is drained of almost all of its blood due in part to the lacerations plaguing its body. It doesn't have enough blood for its heart to function properly. The proof of this is the loss of color of its skin."

Their frame of mind remains unchanged.

"Xeno is stronger than this," Costas said, speaking from experience.

"You'd never know because you've never met it." Ian told me.

I found all of this to be utterly ridiculous, and my tone of voice began to reflect on this.

"Why can't you both accept the fact that Xeno Lucario's injuries are far too great for its body to tolerate?" I spoke boldly.

"We can't because Xeno's still alive." Ian spoke his mind.

"If you feel for its pulse, you'll know that it's still alive." Costas suggested.

"I _already_ palpated its neck for a pulse earlier, and I felt nothing more than fresh blood on my fingertips." I stated. "I didn't even need to do so. My hearing is sensitive enough to detect its heartbeat from a distance. Not that it matters, because Xeno Lucario's heartbeat is no longer present."

"Check again," they said in unison.

I wanted to further reprimand my brothers for such infantile nonsense. However, I couldn't bring myself to do so anymore than I had already. So instead, I just shook my head, exhaled once, and relinquished myself to their suggestion and crouched down once more to Lucario's level of height. I put the same two fingers that I used before on the side of Lucario's neck, and concentrate of feeling for a pulse.

_**…**_

"See, it's just as I established earlier." I stated, never removing my fingers from Lucario's throat. "There is no longer _any_ sign of life…"

_**…Ba…dump…**_

"…emanating from Xeno Lucario's b—"

_(Song Ends Abruptly)_

When I silenced myself abruptly, my brothers looked at my face with a hopeful facial expression. They waited for any further word from me, as I still had my fingers on Xeno's throat.

_**…Ba…dump…**_

"(A full ten second gap between heart pulsations…)" I thought, my body frozen from the sheer astonishment of this Pokémon's moral fiber. "(A gap in time that I kept my fingers on its neck too briefly to notice...)"

_**…Ba…dump…**_

"(Still alive…but only just…)" I pondered, finding myself believing this impossible physical feat.

My brothers could read my shocked facial expression like a book, and knew what was _exactly_ on my mind.

"Xeno is still alive, isn't it…?" Ian smiled.

"…" My body was too frozen in disbelief for me to speak.

"What are you going to do about it?" Costas inquired.

From my stillness, I suddenly began to burst forth in a rush of movement. To begin with, I quickly removed my fingers from Lucario's throat and reached for my S1-GS device. Once the device was in my hand, I said the words "S1-GS withdrawal: S4-BW device," almost twisting my tongue with the speed that I spoke.

"…S4-BW device?" Costas repeated, barely catching the words that I said.

"Is that another one of your 'S-Rank' inventions?" Ian assumed.

Once the verbal command was inputted, I held the S1-GS device above my head and pressed the center button to open the device. The instant that I did, the black hole core of my S1-GS device ejected the S4-BW device that I named, sending it high into the air.

"Of course it is," I said before tucking away my S1-GS device back into its respective holster, and then holding my hand above my head, catching my S4-BW device when it came back down to me.

My brothers notice the S4-BW device in my hand and quickly analyze its appearance.

Because they're already familiar with many of my previous inventions, they already connect its appearance to what they remember from the laboratory. To put simply, the S4-BW device appears to be a polymerization of a spray bottle and a blowtorch. It contains a slot within the handle that allows for a liquid-filled capsule to be inserted, as well as a gun-shaped trigger to allow that liquid to be utilized. The tip of the S4-BW device is metallic and syringe-shaped, for reasons that quickly become understandable when they realized that its appearance was semi-similar to that of a blowtorch.

"What does it do?" Ian wondered.

"Its better I show you first before I explain," I said before pointing at the Aura Pokémon before me. "I have a life to save after all."

My brothers were quick to understand this and remained quiet and attentive at what I had planned to do next in order to save Xeno's life.

With my right hand clutching the S4-BW device, I used my free left hand as a spark lighter to this blowtorch offshoot. Having my left hand emanate faint amounts of Red (Fire) Aura, I snapped my fingers repeatedly in front of the nozzle of my S4-BW device, causing sparks to form every time my fingers rubbed briefly against each other. And once I pulled the trigger on my S4-BW device to commence spraying the liquid within its equipped capsule onto these sparks, the tip of the device quickly ignited and formed a blowtorch-style plasma fire.

With my S4-BW device standing by for use, I disengaged my Red (Fire) Aura and eyed the larger lacerations on Lucario's backside. And as soon as I decided which one was the largest gash, I homed in on it and began to repair it with the plasma fire emanating from my device's nozzle.

My brothers noticed how it only took a few seconds to fully seal off any one laceration on Xeno's body, before I moved on to the other slits of flesh. They both have a fairly concrete idea as to what I manufactured.

"You built a welder?" Costas guessed.

I nodded at my brother without looking away from my work.

"…When?" Ian wondered.

"During my free time when preparing the Apicot and Petaya Berries needed for my healing tank." I explained as I continued using my S4-BW device on Lucario. "The solitary purpose of my fourth 'S-Rank' invention is to seal biological injuries, hence the name 'S4-BW'."

"…'BW'…" Costas muttered those two letters, wondering what they represented. "…It stands for 'Bio-Welder', doesn't it?"

"Precisely," I said before finishing healing Lucario's backside, and then flipping him over—_gently_—onto his freshly-healed back with the telekinetic abilities of my Purple (Psychic) Aura, so that I could continue working on his front half.

"What kind of fuel is it utilizing?" Ian wondered.

"My S4-BW device utilizes supplemental Berry juice extract for its fuel," I explained while sealing Lucario's largest incisions first. "However, it also requires the combustible properties of Spelon Berries within the mix for it to ignite."

"So with that 'S-Rank' device of yours, you're cauterizing Xeno's wounds closed." Ian assumed.

"You'd be quick to assume that because of the plasma fire tip, yet you're actually quite far from the actual truth." I was about halfway done in sealing Xeno's wounds. "What I'm actually doing is _exponentially_ accelerating the cells' regenerative capabilities."

"And how is that helping Lucario?" Costas questioned me.

"Under normal circumstances, these types of injuries heal within a week." I was eyeing the final few lacerations on Lucario's body and sealing them shut. "However, my S4-BW device chops down the healing rate to a few _seconds_, rendering serious injuries like these, if treated quickly enough, null and void. And the best part is that this device's plasma fire tip isn't capable of causing _any_ form of burns, or even leaving a scar at whatever it helps heal. It's simply a beneficial supplement to the body's natural healing capabilities."

As soon as I stopped talking, Lucario's last laceration was properly sealed by my S4-BW device, leaving no trace of its existence whatsoever. The liquid-filled capsule that my device contained was almost empty, a sure sign that it was used to its fullest—as well as a sign that I should prepare more fuel for it soon. And after checking to make sure that I didn't miss any wounds, I stored away my S4-BW device back within my S1-GS device—having yet to manufacture a proper slot for it to place alongside its other "S-Rank" invention brethren.

"And now, for the moment of truth," I said before placing two fingers on Lucario's throat.

My brothers awaited a positive response from me.

_**…Ba…dump…ba…dump…**_

"(Its heart rate…)" I began to ponder.

_**…Ba-dump…ba-dump…ba-dump…**_

"(…is gradually returning to normal.)" I formed a smile before removing my fingers from Lucario's neck and standing back upright from my crouched physical position.

My brothers knew what I was going to say, and awaited me to say it already.

"There, I just saved its life," I said with utmost confidence in my work.

My brothers both let out a couple of sighs of relief, knowing well enough that their recent friend was away from any critical danger.

"Thank you for saving Xeno's life," Ian said, thankful of my success.

"You are the only one who could've," Costas said, speaking from past memories of my achievements.

"Don't mention it," I spoke humbly. "I'm just here to help those that require it."

After those words, a few seconds of absolute silence slipped by, neither of us having anything to say during that time. So, to break that silence, Costas decided to change the topic.

"So…what do we do now?"

My response was immediate. "We should just stand by Xeno Lucario's side and give it time to recover, as well as make sure that it awakens."

"What do we do to pass the time?" Ian asked.

"You both wanted to learn about my time during my banishment." I suggested. "You both wanted to know more about that dragon, the hooded figure, and those S2 and S3 inventions, right?"

Both of my brothers nodded, their curiosity desiring to be fed.

"Alright then," I said before recollecting my thoughts.

* * *

><p>"What I see in nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that fills a thinking person with a feeling of humility." —Albert Einstein<p>

* * *

><p>In a way, it's sort of a shame that the first meeting between Eduardo and Xeno Lucario is over a near-death situation. However, I have a good reason for that, which will be obvious as this FanFic continues.<p>

And with that, all that I can say right now is Merry Christmas before leaving.

...

...

...Oh, wait! I forgot something.

On my last update, with that talk about MLP, I speculated that it was Rainbow Dash that snaps a bear's neck. It turns out that my speculation is incorrect.

It wasn't Rainbow Dash that did it. It was FLUTTERSHY! And I only know that because I saw images of that scene on iFunny.

I never thought she had it in her, and I can't wait to see exactly the reason why, until I get there as I progress through watching the series.

So good-bye for now, and Merry Christmas.

...

/)*(\


	23. Chapter XVII (17)

Hit Count: 3,965

You know how normally I have something to mention prior to a new chapter? Not this time. Not for this one.

All I can say is that this is, without question, the largest, most important chapter in this fanfic. And anything that I can say describing it would be redundant, once you cross the line below.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XVII (17): When Crossroads Meet<strong>

Location: 28°N, 34°E (Solitary Tree atop a Hill)

Date: January 10th, 60 A.D.

Time: 4:21 PM

A long discussion took place between my brothers and I, they craving to know what I did during my banishment. I told them everything that they wished to know that I had to tell them: my S2-PTSDO device—as well as its upgraded second version—, my S3-OSS devices, my encounter with the enigmatic sable-scaled dragon, my meeting with the hooded figure—which led to my inadvertent return to my home village, and various other trinkets of information that they wished to know.

All of this was, what I believed, to be the most relevant information that my brothers wished for me to discuss with them. And during this time of recapitulation, the three of us tended to the immobile Aura Pokémon's physical appearance.

The three of us washed clean the blood that stained his striking fur coat, using the clear Red Sea water nearby us, as well as a few sponges within the limitless storage capabilities of my S1-GS device. Afterwards, I retrieved a clean white cloth and set it on top of a pristine patch of healthy green grass—one free of Lucario's coagulated hemorrhage—before the three of us gently placed his body on top of it. Next, I retrieved a white pillow and a white blanket, both of which were for his comfort. The pillow was properly placed below the recovering Pokémon's cranium—with his dreadlock-like appendages strategically straightened out so that they weren't smothered—and the blanket was placed over him, leaving only Xeno's head and neck visible from the pristine, colorless fabric.

Once Lucario was properly tended to, and my summarization with my brothers was over, the three of us sat down in a circle around Lucario. My two brothers decided to ask me a couple of questions, to pass the time.

"So during your banishment," Ian queried. "You actually _lost_ complete interest in the village that you were born in?"

I looked at Ian's face and nodded. "I used to, but no longer. My place amongst my home and my neighbors is cemented, and my hopes for their better future rekindled."

Ian smiled at my statement. "I'm glad that banishment hasn't hardened your heart irreversibly."

"Likewise," I smiled back.

"And that material you made, out of the polymerization of all of those various elements…" Costas entered the conversation. "Why _exactly_ did you name it 'Auracite'?"

"It's fairly straightforward from my perspective." I looked at Costas and explained. "Ever since I first discovered my Elemental Aura abilities, I always thought of the aura as a powerful force. It's a force that, if used properly, can overcome any challenge and any impediment in its path. The name 'Auracite' is an obvious derivative from aura, because they both can have the potential to supersede any oncoming obstacles."

"Oh, I see now…" Costas remarked, understanding my reasoning.

Once all of the commotion between the three of us ended, I stood back upright and eyed Xeno's unequipped battle armor and utility belt. I noticed these items placed directly beside the tree trunk, and figured that examining them in greater detail would pass the time. Not only that, but I might learn something about the Aura Pokémon and where he hails from.

"(Nothing on this planet looks like you or possesses technological equipment of that caliber.)" I pondered. "(Wherever you're from, Xeno, your gear might make it clear to me.)"

Deciding on this choice of action, I proceeded over to Lucario's battle armor, simultaneously retrieving my S2-PTSDOv.2 device from its respective holster on the left side of my waistline. Once I was directly beside his battle armor, I eyed Lucario's helmet and held it with my remaining hand, already dissecting its construction and function within my mind.

"(The materials utilized in its manufacturing are titanium and various rare crystals.)" I began "(The process to unify these two materials involved high temperatures and mixing them thoroughly, once they were melted enough to meld properly.)"

The next thing that I noticed of the helmet is the visor that shielded Xeno's eyes.

"(This visor is high-tech and capable of projecting various bits of information to its user, through a compacted computer database that is capable of storing approximately one hundred terabytes of data. Rather impressive for its diminutive size.)"

I looked at the front of the helmet, eyeing the dark coloring of the visor.

"(The visor is polarized in the front side of the lens, so as to reduce glare and provide an uninterrupted field of vision.)"

Finally, I looked at the inside of the helmet, and eyed the manufacturing information provided. However, before I could dissect it, Costas was quick to point it out for me.

"Eduardo, did you notice the engravings within the helmet?"

"You mean the red 'R', as well as the number '2010'?" I said, eyeing the mentioned marks.

"Yeah, that's it." Costas confirmed. "Do you know what the 'R' is for? I'm clueless."

It only took me a brief moment to hypothesize a potential answer. "The red 'R' is likely the emblem for whatever organization manufactured this armor."

"You should be careful with that helmet," Ian warned me. "Xeno wouldn't want it damaged unintentionally."

I placed the helmet gingerly back in its original location and eyed Ian with a composed countenance. "You're talking to a person that sees both nature and technology as items greater in value than gold. Never in my wildest dreams would I _imagine_ breaking it."

After the external examination of Lucario's helmet, I decided to examine the information that it held within its databanks. With the S2-PTSDOv.2 device that I already had in hand, I connected it wirelessly to the computer within Lucario's helmet. The process to do so was instantaneous, due to the immensely superior technology involved, and the programs involved that broke through any potential security walls as though they were sheets of toilet paper soaked with water.

And as for the terabytes of data that was stored within his helmet, all of it was copied and downloaded into my S2-PTSDOv.2's databanks.

…in under ten seconds.

"(Well, that was fast.)" I pondered as I began to skim through all of the information that I just obtained. "(And without any problems in data transfer either.)"

One of the files that I passed over explained of a criminal organization by the name of Team Rocket. Within these files, I could see information relating to their accomplishments, their plans, their tactics, and their ideas for global domination, all of which involve the use of Pokémon at the heart of their structure.

With great frequency, I saw the logo for Team Rocket within these files: a red, capital letter "R".

"(That same logo…)" I stared lengthily at the image formed from the thousands of pixels of my S2-PTSDOv.2 device's screen. "(It's also present within that helmet of his. Does that make Xeno Lucario an agent of Team Rocket…or a tool?)"

I gave a few seconds of my time to looking at Lucario's current and stable condition, before looking back at my S2-PTSDOv.2 device and skimming through the remainder of the files.

"(I'll just save that question for when he awakens.)"

Looking onward at this vast collection of data that I acquired, I noticed another collection of data. This data contained blueprints for many various technological devices, likely for Team Rocket to follow for the items that they require for their nefarious campaign.

Of the tens of _thousands_ of blueprints that my S2-PTSDOv.2 device acquired and stored within its memory, the select few that caught my eye were blueprints that struck a mental chord of nostalgia within me. The blueprints listed information on how to make a Nintendo DS handheld system—both DS and DS Lite versions—and a surprising _twenty-six_ different adaptations to the Poké Ball capsules, alongside various unofficial or outdated Poké Ball models, one of them depicting the GS Ball.

The reason because these blueprints struck me nostalgically is _solely_ in part due to how their aesthetic appearance is equal to my first three "S-Rank" devices. The GS Ball portrayed through the blueprints is _perfectly_ similar to my S1-GS device, right down to the shape of the "GS" above the opening button. The Nintendo DS handhelds are—from an aesthetic standpoint—_exactly_ similar in appearance as well. The individual designs of those twenty-six categorized Poké Ball models also shared the visual traits as those of my twenty-six S3-OSS devices.

My latest "S-Rank" invention—the S4-BW device—however, didn't show any structural similarities with any of the technological devices that these blueprints portrayed.

The reason for this wasn't difficult for me to wrap my head around, once I figured out where my "S-Rank" devices first originated from.

I saw the designs of my first three "S-Rank" gadgets through dreams that I had about future technology. The origins of _any_ of those devices, I always figured, were from a time period a couple of millennia ahead in the planet Earth's current timeline.

But now, with the information that I've just acquired, I realize now that my hypothesis is, in most ways, true. The only decisive bit of information that I never pondered of was that the designs of this technology stemmed from a parallel Earth.

"(Hmm… I learn something new every day, no matter how much I know as is.)" I pondered before facing both of my brothers. "Would you two believe that the aesthetic designs of my first three 'S-Rank' devices match the products that these blueprints portray?"

My brothers didn't seem surprised by this realization. In fact, they seemed relieved at this understanding.

"I always thought those devices of yours were otherworldly," Ian said.

"It's not _just_ those 'S-Rank' devices of yours, you know." Costas began to explain to me. "Those sixty-four Berries that you gene-spliced, they're plentiful within Xeno's parallel world."

"Really?" I said. "Perhaps then, because of the parallelism of this Earth and Xeno's Earth, many common qualities between both Earths are altered in interesting ways. For example, the natural flora and fauna of Xeno Lucario's Earth show supernatural qualities, while the natural flora and fauna of this Earth do not."

After that informational tidbit, I skimmed over what remained of the data that I downloaded from Lucario's helmet. At the very end of this data, I noticed an encyclopedia-like program—an aptly-named "Pokédex", it was called—, containing data on _649_ different species of Pokémon. The data for each and every Pokémon varied in content. Some Pokémon—the common variety—had pages upon pages of information relating to it, while other Pokémon—the rare variety—were lucky to have a word count exceed the three-digit zone.

Of course, the entire Pokédex showed signs that it was updated on a regular basis. The evidence of this comes from the fact that over a hundred Pokémon are added into this almanac within every few years. The most recent update added over 150 Pokémon from the Unova region, and a scheduled update was likely to add over a hundred more.

Aside from those telltale features of this "Pokédex" application, I noticed that certain Pokémon entries were bookmarked for quick reference, all of which had a _surplus_ of information—illustrative and textual—relating to each and every one of them. All of these bookmarked entries, I looked over attentively.

My brothers, one over each my shoulders and glancing over the information alongside me, followed along at these detailed reports.

_**(National Pokédex entry #004: Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. It is a Fire-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 00" and weighs in at approximately 18.7 lbs. It has a preference for hot things. When it rains, steam is said to spout from the tip of its tail. The flame at the tip of its tail makes a sound as it burns. You can only hear it in quiet places. Unfamiliar with fire, babies are said to accidentally burn themselves. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when Charmander is happy, and blazes when it is enraged. From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. Its life would end if the flame were to go out. The fire on the tip of its tail is a measure of its life. If healthy, its tail burns intensely.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #005: Charmeleon, the Flame Pokémon. It is a Fire-Type Pokémon that measures in at 3' 07" and weighs in at approximately 41.9 lbs. When it swings its burning tail, it elevates the temperature to unbearably high levels. Tough fights could excite this Pokémon. When excited, it may blow out bluish-white flames. It has a barbaric nature. In battle, it whips its fiery tail around and slashes away with sharp claws. If it becomes agitated during battle, it spouts intense flames, incinerating its surroundings. It calms down only when it wins. It lashes about with its tail to knock down its foe. It then tears up the fallen opponent with sharp claws. In the rocky mountains where Charmeleon live, their fiery tails shine at night like stars.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #006: Charizard, the Flame Pokémon. It is a Fire-Type and Flying-Type Pokémon that measures in at 5' 07" and weighs in at approximately 199.5 lbs. When expelling a blast of super hot fire, the red flame at the tip of its tail burns more intensely. Its fiery breath reaches incredible temperatures. It can quickly melt glaciers weighing 10,000 tons. If Charizard becomes furious, the flame at the tip of its tail flares up in a whitish-blue color. Its breath inflicts terrible pain on enemies. It breathes fire of such great heat that it melts anything. It uses its wings to fly high. It is said that Charizard's fire burns hotter if it has experienced harsh battles. Charizard flies around the sky in search of powerful opponents. However, it never turns its fiery breath on any opponent weaker than itself. Its wings can carry this Pokémon close to an altitude of **__**4,600 feet**__**.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #131: Lapras, the Transport Pokémon. It is an Ice-Type and a Water-Type Pokémon that measures in at 8' 02" and weighs in at approximately 485.0 lbs. They have gentle hearts. Because they rarely fight, many have been caught. Their number has dwindled. It may sing an enchanting cry if it is in a good mood. This gentle Pokémon loves to give people rides and provides a very comfortable way to get around. People have driven Lapras almost to the point of extinction. In the evenings, this Pokémon is said to sing plaintively as it seeks what few others of its kind still remain. Its high intelligence enables it to understand human speech.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #150: Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokémon. It is a Psychic-Type Pokémon that measures in at 6' 07" and weighs in at approximately 269.0 lbs. It was created by a scientist after years of horrific gene splicing and DNA engineering experiments. Even though the scientific power of humans created this Pokémon's body, they failed to endow Mewtwo with a compassionate heart. It's said to have the most savage heart among Pokémon. Because its battle abilities were raised to the ultimate level, it thinks only of defeating its foes. It usually remains motionless to conserve energy, so that it may unleash its full power in battle. Its cold, glowing eyes strike fear into its enemy.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #246: Larvitar, the Rock Skin Pokémon. It is a Ground-Type and Rock-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 00" and weighs in at approximately 158.7 lbs. Larvitar is born deep under the ground. To come up to the surface, this Pokémon must eat its way through the soil above. Until it does so, Larvitar cannot see its parent's face. Once it has eaten a large mountain, it goes to sleep so it can grow.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #247: Pupitar, the Hard Shell Pokémon. It is a Ground-Type and a Rock-Type Pokémon that measures in at 3' 11" and weighs in at an astonishing 335.1 lbs. Its shell is as hard as sheet rock, and it is also very strong. Its thrashing can topple a mountain. Even sealed in its shell, it can move freely. Hard and fast, it has outstanding destructive power. It will not stay still, even while it's a pupa. It already has arms and legs under its solid shell. A Pupitar creates a gas inside its body that it ejects under compression to propel itself like a jet. Its body can withstand a collision with solid steel.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #248: Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon. It is a Dark-Type and a Rock-Type Pokémon that measures in at 6' 07" and weighs in at an impressive 445.3 lbs. Its body can't be harmed by any sort of attack, so it is very eager to make challenges against enemies. Extremely strong, it can change the landscape. It has an insolent nature that makes it not care about others. In just one of its mighty hands, it has the power to make the ground shake and mountains crumble. Tyranitar is so overwhelmingly powerful, it can bring down a whole mountain to make its nest. This Pokémon wanders about in mountains seeking new opponents to fight. If it rampages, it knocks down mountains and buries rivers. Maps must be redrawn afterward.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #253: Grovyle, the Wood Gecko Pokémon. It is a Grass-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 11" and weighs in at approximately 47.6 lbs. It lives in dense jungles. The leaves growing out of Grovyle's body are convenient for camouflaging it from enemies in the forest. This Pokémon is a master at climbing trees in jungles. This Pokémon adeptly flies from branch to branch in trees. In a forest, no Pokémon can ever hope to catch a fleeing Grovyle however fast they may be. Its strongly developed thigh muscles give it astounding agility and jumping performance.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #254: Sceptile, the Forest Pokémon. It is a Grass-Type Pokémon that measures in at 5' 07" and weighs in at a lightweight 115.1 lbs. This Pokémon is very agile - it leaps all over the branches of trees and jumps on its foe from above or behind. Sceptile has seeds growing on its back. They are said to be bursting with nutrients that revitalize trees. This Pokémon raises the trees in a forest with loving care. The leaves on its forelegs are as sharp as swords. The leaves that grow on its arms can slice down thick trees. It is without peer in jungle combat.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #255: Torchic, the Chick Pokémon. It is a Fire-Type Pokémon that measures in at 1' 04" and weighs in at approximately 5.5 lbs. Torchic sticks with its Trainer, following behind with unsteady steps. If attacked, it strikes back by spitting balls of fire it forms in its stomach. A Torchic dislikes darkness because it can't see its surroundings. A fire burns inside, so it feels very warm to hug. It launches fireballs of **__**1,800 degrees F**__**.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #256: Combusken, the Young Fowl Pokémon. It is a Fighting-Type and a Fire-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 11" and weighs in at approximately 43.0 lbs. Combusken toughens up its legs and thighs by running through fields and mountains. Combusken battles with the intensely hot flames it spews from its beak and with outstandingly destructive kicks. Its strong fighting instinct compels it to keep up its offensive until the opponent gives up. **__**I**__**ts kicking mastery lets it loose 10 kicks per second. It emits sharp cries to intimidate foes.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #304: Aron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. It is a Rock-Type and a Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 1' 04" and weighs in at an impressive 132.3 lbs. A Pokémon that is clad in steel armor. To make its body, Aron feeds on iron ore that it digs from mountains. With one all-out charge, this Pokémon can demolish even a heavy dump truck. The destroyed dump truck then becomes a handy meal for the Pokémon. A new suit of armor is made when it evolves. The old, discarded armor is salvaged as metal for making iron products. It is a pest that descends from mountains to eat bridges and train tracks. It usually lives deep in mountains. However, hunger may drive it to eat railroad tracks and cars.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #305: Lairon, the Iron Armor Pokémon. It is a Rock-Type and a Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 11" and weighs in at a hefty 264.6 lbs. Lairon tempers its steel body by drinking highly nutritious mineral spring water until it is bloated. This Pokémon makes its nest close to springs of delicious water. **__**It makes its nest on mountains where iron ore is buried. **__**For food, it digs up iron ore. **__**As a result, the Pokémon often clashes with humans mining the iron ore.**__** When two Lairon meet in the wild, they fight for territory by bashing into each other with their steel bodies. The sound of their collision carries for miles. It habitually shows off its strength with the size of sparks it creates by ramming its steel body into boulders.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #306: Aggron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. It is a Rock-Type and a Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 6' 11" and weighs in at an earth-trembling 793.7 lbs. Aggron claims an entire mountain as its own territory. It mercilessly beats up anything that violates its environment. This Pokémon vigilantly patrols its territory at all times. Aggron is surprisingly protective of its environment. If its mountain is ravaged by a landslide or a fire, this Pokémon will haul topsoil to the area, plant trees, and beautifully restore its own territory. Its iron horns grow longer a little at a time. They are used to determine the Aggron's age. The gouges in its armor are worn with pride as mementos from battles. While seeking iron for food, it digs tunnels by breaking through bedrock with its steel horns.)**_

_**(National Pokédex #355: Duskull, the Requiem Pokémon. It is a Ghost-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 07" and weighs in at approximately 33.1 lbs. Duskull can pass through any wall no matter how thick it may be. Once this Pokémon chooses a target, it will doggedly pursue the intended victim until the break of dawn. It is a nocturnal Pokémon that roams about under the cloak of darkness. There is an oft-told admonishment given to misbehaving children that this Pokémon will spirit away bad children who earn scoldings from their mothers. A glare from its single scarlet eye makes even burly grown-ups freeze in utter fear. Making itself invisible, it silently sneaks up to prey. It loves the crying of children. It startles bad kids by passing through walls and making them cry.)**_

_**(National Pokédex #356: Dusclops, the Beckon Pokémon. It is a Ghost-Type Pokémon that measures in at 5' 03" and weighs in at approximately 67.5 lbs. Dusclops's body is completely hollow - there is nothing at all inside. This Pokémon will absorb anything into its body, but nothing will ever come back out. Dusclops absorbs anything, however large the object may be. This Pokémon hypnotizes its foe by waving its hands in a macabre manner and by bringing its single eye to bear. The hypnotized foe is made to do Dusclops's bidding. It is thought that its body is hollow with only a spectral ball of fire burning inside. However, no one has been able to confirm this theory as fact. When it opens its mouth, it sucks everything in as if it were a black hole. It is said that those who look into its body are sucked into the void. Anyone who dares peer into its body to see its spectral ball of fire will have their spirit stolen away. It seeks drifting will-o'-the-wisps and sucks them into its empty body. What happens inside is a mystery.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #359: Absol, the Disaster Pokémon. It is a Dark-Type Pokémon that measures in at 3' 11" and weighs in at approximately 103.6 lbs. Every time Absol appears before people, it is followed by a disaster such as an earthquake or a tidal wave. As a result, it came to be known as the Disaster Pokémon. It lives in a harsh, rugged mountain environment. This Pokémon very rarely ventures down from the mountains. **__**It sharply senses even subtle changes in the sky and the land to predict natural disasters. It is a long-lived Pokémon that has a life-span of 100 years.**__** It senses coming disasters and appears before people only to warn them of impending danger. Rumored to sense disasters with its horn, it became a target. It fled deep into the mountains.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #374: Beldum, the Iron Ball Pokémon. It is a Psychic-Type and a Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 00" and weighs in at a hefty 209.9 lbs. Instead of blood, a powerful magnetic force courses throughout Beldum's body. Beldum keeps itself floating by generating a magnetic force that repels earth's natural magnetism. When it sleeps, this Pokémon anchors itself to a cliff using the hooks on its rear. They communicate with each other using brain waves. All the cells in its body are magnetic. It converses with others by using magnetic pulses. In a swarm, they move in perfect unison.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #375: Metang, the Iron Claw Pokémon. It is a Psychic-Type and a Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 3' 11" and weighs in at a sturdy 446.4 lbs. When two Beldum fuse together, Metang is formed. The brains of the Beldum are joined by a magnetic nervous system. By linking its brains magnetically, this Pokémon generates strong psychokinetic power. This Pokémon turns its arms to the rear for traveling at high speed. The claws tipping its arms pack the destructive power to tear through thick iron sheets as if they were silk. It flies at over 60 miles per hour. It floats midair using magnetism. Its body is so tough, even a crash with a jet plane won't leave a scratch.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #380: Latias, the Eon Pokémon. Latias is a Dragon-Type and a Psychic-Type Pokémon that measures in at 4' 07" and weighs in at a lightweight 88.2 lbs. Latias is highly sensitive to the emotions of people. If it senses any hostility, this Pokémon ruffles the feathers all over its body and cries shrilly to intimidate the foe. Latias is highly intelligent and capable of understanding human speech. It is covered with a glass-like down. The Pokémon enfolds its body with its down and refracts light to alter its appearance. They make a small herd of only several members. They rarely make contact with people or other Pokémon. They disappear if they sense enemies. It communicates using telepathy. Its body is covered in a down that can refract light in such a way that it becomes invisible.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #381: Latios, the Eon Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and a Psychic-Type Pokémon that measures in at 6' 07" and weighs in at a respectable 132.3 lbs. Latios has the ability to make its foe see an image of what it has seen or imagines in its head. Latios will only open its heart to a Trainer with a compassionate spirit. Even in hiding, it can detect the locations of others and sense their emotions since it has telepathy. Its intelligence allows it to understand human languages. It has a docile temperament and dislikes fighting. By folding back its wings in flight, it can overtake jet planes.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #403: Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. It is an Electric-Type Pokémon that measures in at 1' 08" and weighs in at a respectable 20.9 lbs. All of its fur dazzles if danger is sensed. It flees while the foe is momentarily blinded. Its forelegs have a muscle-based system of generating electricity. The extension and contraction of its muscles generates electricity.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #404: Luxio, the Spark Pokémon. It is an Electric-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 11" and weighs in at approximately 67.2 lbs. Its claws loose electricity with enough amperage to cause fainting. They live in small groups. It rests its forelegs on others to communicate with rhythmic electric pulses from its claws. By gathering their tails together, they collectively generate powerful electricity from their claws. Strong electricity courses through the tips of its sharp claws. A light scratch causes fainting in foes.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #405: Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokémon. It is an Electric-Type Pokémon that measures in at 4' 07" and weighs in at approximately 92.6 lbs. It has eyes which can see through anything. When its eyes gleam gold, it can spot hiding prey-even those taking shelter behind a wall. It spots and captures prey hiding behind objects. Luxray's ability to see through objects comes in handy when it's scouting for danger. It can see clearly through walls to track down its prey and seek its lost young.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #445: Garchomp, the Mach Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and a Ground-Type Pokémon that measures in at 6' 03" and weighs in at a stout 209.4 lbs. When it folds up its body and extends its wings, it looks like a jet plane. It flies at speeds equal to a jet fighter plane. It flies at sonic speed. It never allows its prey to escape. Its body is covered in fine scales that reduce drag, enabling it to fly at high speeds. It is said that when one runs at high speed, its wings create blades of wind that can fell nearby trees.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #447: Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. It is a Fighting-Type Pokémon that measures in at 2' 04" and weighs in at approximately 44.5 lbs. They communicate with one another using their auras. It has the peculiar power of being able to see emotions such as joy and rage in the form of waves. The aura that emanates from its body intensifies to alert others if it is afraid or sad. Its body is little yet powerful. It can crest three mountains and cross two canyons in one night.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #448: Lucario, the Aura Pokémon. It is a Fighting-Type and a Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 3' 11" and weighs in at approximately 119.0 lbs. It has the ability to sense the Auras of all things. It understands human speech. By catching the Aura emanating from others, it can read their thoughts and movements. It's said that no foe can remain invisible to Lucario, since it can detect Auras. A well-trained one can sense auras to identify and take in the feelings of creatures over half a mile away.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #477: Dusknoir, the Gripper Pokémon. It is a Ghost-Type Pokémon that measures in at 7' 03" and weighs in at approximately 235.0 lbs. The antenna on its head captures radio waves from the world of spirits that command it to take people there. This feared Pokémon is said to travel to worlds unknown. Some even believe that it takes lost spirits along with it. It is said to take lost spirits into its pliant body and guide them home.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #483: Dialga, the Temporal Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and a Steel-Type Pokémon that measures in at 17' 09" and weighs in at a jaw-dropping 1505.8 lbs. It has the power to control time. It appears in Sinnoh-region myths as an ancient deity. **__**A Pokémon spoken of in legend. It is said that time began moving when Dialga was born.**__** This Pokémon completely controls the flow of time. It uses its power to travel at will through the past and future. It is said that time flows when Dialga's heart beats.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #484: Palkia, the Spatial Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and a Water-Type Pokémon that measures in at 13' 09" and weighs in at an impressive 740.8 lbs. It has the ability to distort space. It is described as a deity in Sinnoh-region mythology. It is said to live in a gap in the spatial dimension parallel to ours. Its total control over the boundaries of space enables it to transport itself to faraway places or even other dimensions. It is said that space becomes more stable with Palkia's every breath.)**_

_**(National Pokédex entry #487: Giratina, the Renegade Pokémon. It is a Dragon-Type and a Ghost-Type Pokémon that measures in at 14' 09" (Altered Forme) or 22' 08" (Origin Forme) and weighs in at a massive 1653.5 lbs (Altered Forme) or 1433.0 lbs (Origin Forme). It appears in an ancient cemetery. This Pokémon is said to live in a world on the reverse side of ours, where common knowledge is distorted and strange. It was banished for its violence. It silently gazed upon the old world from the Distortion World.)**_

All of the information that the three of us analyzed left us physically stagnant, eyeing the S2-PTSDOv.2 device's screen with bewilderment and speculation. The potential of these creatures that Lucario had on file—their abilities, their assortment, their attributes—proved to be mentally overwhelming for my brothers…and myself especially.

"(How does the world _revolve_ with these creatures?)" I pondered. "(With their powers, this parallel Earth that Xeno hails from would split in two!)"

"(Do humans live _alongside_ these behemoths?)" Ian pondered. "(How do they exist with these monsters running amok?)"

"(Dialga, Palkia, Giratina…)" Costas recalled the names of the Sinnoh Region deities. "(For some reason, all of this information just _screams_ 'Japanese' to me.)"

I closed my S2-PTSDOv.2 device and keep it in hand. I looked back at the Aura Pokémon that lay unconscious within the makeshift white resting area. Just staring at his tranquil countenance filled me with new questions that I couldn't wrap my head around, primarily from a considerable lack of information that I've yet to obtain from the source.

"(Of these thirty-two Pokémon—_yourself_ included—that you bookmarked into the installed Pokédex application…)" I pondered what I recently learned. "(I can only assume that they connect to you in some way.

I noticed signs of movement from him as I looked on at him and pondered. However, those signs of movement were mild to practically nonexistent. At most, it was a reflexive twitch of the pointed ear, a swallow of the throat, a tightening of the eyelids, or a shift of the snout. All of which were just clear signs that he is alive, and recovering soundly from his past ordeal.

"(What way _exactly_, I won't know unless I ask you, and that's until you awaken from your slumber.)" I concluded.

No longer needing the S2-PTSDOv.2 device for anything relating to this moment, I stored it away on my person. Afterward, I plucked two random S3-OSS devices from their respective slots and held one in each hand. However, before planning my next choice of action, I took this time to compare the designs of my S3-OSS devices with the Poké Ball models that Lucario had on his databank, as well as those on his unequipped utility belt.

The two S3-OSS devices that I held were the S3-OSS.B device in my left hand and the S3-OSS.T device in my right hand. I recalled how the designs of these two S3-OSS devices—as well as those of my other twenty-four—originated from these Poké Balls that Lucario had digital information on and physical reproductions of as well.

"(According to Xeno Lucario's stored data files, my S3-OSS.B device looks just like the Great Ball and my S3-OSS.T device looks just like the Luxury Ball)." I pondered, and also took the time to notice that Lucario had these two mentioned Poké Balls within their respective slots on his utility belt. "(These devices of mine are capable of optical surveillance… So what are those Poké Balls of yours capable of?)"

Deciding that I can simply look up the function of those Poké Balls from the data that my S2-PTSDOv.2 device acquired, I chose to unearth that topic until after my little errand.

"Costas, Ian?" I faced both of my brothers. "I need to return to my laboratory to check on the condition of my Berry plants. It shouldn't take me too long. It's just simple maintenance to see if all of the systems keeping them alive and thriving are functioning properly, and to collect their bounty if their fruits are ripe. I'll return back before you all miss me, and so that I don't leave our Pokémon guest unattended. Until then, can I rely on the both of you to keep an eye on it?"

"Of course you can," Costas's pleasant response was automatic, almost instinctive.

"Even if our furry blue friend awakens while you're out, the fact that he's comfortable with the both of us should keep it here." Ian assured me.

"Good," I said one last word before having my two S3-OSS devices hoist me high into the air, and carry me over the horizon, towards my home village. However, I decided to fly at only ten percent of what the S3-OSS devices are capable of, knowing that I was no longer rushed of time and that the worst was behind me.

My brothers stare on at the horizon that I've transcended over for a few moments after I've left from their field of vision. Once I was no longer within the area, their eyes home in onto Xeno, and their minds home in onto his mind—metaphorically speaking.

"I wonder what it's dreaming about right now," Ian muttered with curiosity.

"With all of the head injuries that I've acquired, I should count myself lucky that I can _dream_ between nights." Costas trailed off before smiling at his brother. "Am I right?"

Ian just smiled and rolled his eyes, knowing from life experiences just how his brother behaved, and how to tolerate it.

* * *

><p><em><span>23.1: Recollection! Aura vs. Hooded Figure<span>_

Location: Xeno's Subconscious

As the Aura Pokémon remained unconscious, his mind was left to wander about recent events that occurred to him. He recalled, from his memory, the events prior to his present state: his encounter with the hooded figure.

He recalled their earlier conversation. He remembered how the hooded figure, through his Superior—the Dark One—, knew of his past accomplishments and how much potential Lucario has yet to access. Also, according to the hooded figure, the Dark One sees him—the "Pokémon of Prophecy"—as a potential threat to His plans of global conquest, and therefore must be eliminated before he can further mature from his (surprising) martial infancy.

"_Come at me then, with everything you've got._" he said, moments before he charged towards the hooded figure.

_Squirming Evil/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD1 - Kingdom Hearts OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

The hooded figure, seeing Xeno rush at him recklessly—with eyes glowing gold and maliciously honed in onto his being—, maintained a firm battle stance and waited for the Aura Pokémon.

As he was running towards the hooded figure, Xeno extended his left paw out, and forced the paw-spike on his left paw to glow white before morphing into his METAL CLAW technique. The three-pronged, twelve-inch claws that Lucario temporarily possessed were aimed directly towards the hooded figure's torso, the intent of impalement clear within his battle-hardened mind.

The hooded figure, his battle plan about to take effect, smiled at the impending Aura Pokémon.

Lucario closed the distance between him and the hooded figure and thrust his METAL CLAW technique onto the torso of the hooded figure. Before he could smile at his successful attack, he quickly felt as if something was amiss. For starters, even though he knew that he struck the hooded figure pointblank, it felt as if he struck _air_. He couldn't even feel any blood pouring onto his paw from the hooded figure, let alone any _resistance_ of striking the shrouded entity.

The hooded figure, despite having Lucario's METAL CLAW technique strike him steadfastly, didn't seem to show _any_ signs of pain whatsoever. If anything, the hooded figure simply chuckled ominously at this situation.

"_What's so funny?_" Lucario inquired bluntly, unsure what the hooded figure was thinking, because he was unable to bypass the black aura with his Aura Vision ability.

"I'm laughing at your imminent situation…" The hooded figure said with an evil grin. "You're about to enter my world: a world of darkness and pain!"

As soon as the hooded figure finished speaking, his entire body spontaneously dispersed into a thick, black gas. This same gas spread rampantly across the area, as if intended to do so. Any physical trace of the hooded figure no longer seemed identifiable.

Lucario's reaction to this was immediate. He withdrew his METAL CLAW technique and dissipated it. However, the moment that he did, he suddenly found himself surrounded by and within the hooded figure's world.

Lucario was now within a world of darkness.

"(What is this shroud?)" Lucario thought, unable to make much sense of this phenomenon. "(Its pitch black in here, even _with_ my active Aura Vision ability…)"

As Lucario continued scanning what appeared to be utter blackness before him, his ears perked somewhat when he could've sworn that he heard the hooded figure chuckle at his situation. In response to this, he turned his head to look all over his field of vision, hoping to see any trace of the hooded figure.

Much to his dismay however, he saw nothing but more sable emptiness.

"(That black aura of yours…)" Lucario began to hypothesize. "(…Its perfect camouflage within this vicinity of obscurity. And because of that, you're invisible to my refined eyes, with or without my Aura Vision ability active.)"

Despite this optical disadvantage, Lucario's martial morale never faltered. He remained in his battle stance, calm and composed mentally, ready to attack when he was able to identify any trace of the hooded figure.

"(Of course, if I so much as _hear_ you coming, then—)"

Lucario found himself suddenly cut short in thought when he felt a sharp pain surface from a _laceration_ on the left side of his torso. He could feel his fur moistening with the warm hemorrhaging from the freshly-made injury, his aura highlighting the injury according to his Aura Vision ability.

"(…Oh Arceus…)" Lucario pondered, his eyes widened—according to what he could feel of his blackened actions—at the fact that he heard absolutely nothing of the hooded figure's attack.

"Welcome to my world of pain," The hooded figure spoke from _behind_ Xeno's presence. "I just gave you your first cut."

Lucario was immediate to react to the location of the voice of the hooded figure. He conjured an AURA SPHERE within his left paw, performed an about-face, and fired it forward towards the hooded figure.

Unfortunately, as the AURA SPHERE flew farther and farther away in utter blackness before disappearing altogether, it was clear that the hooded figure moved away from his general location.

"_Damn you and your invisibility before me._" he cursed.

"Oh, how rude," The hooded figure spoke from Lucario's _right_ side. "I show you generous hospitality by inviting you into my world and you reply back to me with such a heinous remark."

Xeno was once again quick to pinpoint the location of the hooded figure, and he decided to act more quickly than before. He tilted his head to his right, inhaled once and puffed up his chest to peak capacity, before firing a FLAMETHROWER from his mouth in his general direction. The stream of fire stretched about fifteen feet forward before dissipating once Lucario ran out of breath a few seconds later.

"_Oh, I _seriously_ hoped that you burned to a crisp after that FLAMETHROWER technique,_" Lucario smirked as he spoke telepathically.

Almost immediately after he finished his statement, he felt two more slashes form onto his body. This time, they were on his back, and Lucario could feel that the pain caused by both slashes were shaped into a "=" symbol. Both slash marks, sure enough, cut deep enough to draw blood and progressively mar Lucario's fur sanguine.

Lucario yelped in pain, and swiped his arm behind him in a horizontal sweep, launching a purple PSYCHO CUT blade in the process. However, as was the case with both of Lucario's AURA SPHERE and FLAMETHROWER techniques, the PSYCHO CUT blade traveled onward before vanishing gradually.

"Nope, you just missed again…_thrice_ actually." The hooded figure said before cackling at Xeno's predicament.

"_Don't you mock me!_" Lucario shouted with his temper now building.

For the next minute, Lucario launched a vindictive frenzy of attacks in all directions. In one moment, he erected both LEAF BLADE in one paw and METAL CLAW in another paw. With both attacks, he darted across the entire field of darkness, slashing blindly at whatever was in front of him—which unfortunately, was just a bunch of air.

Unfortunately for the Aura Pokémon, that was never the case for the hooded figure.

Between every two-to-four slashes of Lucario's bladed techniques, he could feel the hooded figure tearing another collection of rifts of flesh on his body. He could feel the lacerations concentrate more on the front and back side of his torso—likely what the hooded figure preferred—, albeit he could feel a few form on his arms, legs, and even his dreadlock-like appendages. He could feel that some gashes cut into his flesh, some deeper than others, a few even nicked his _bones_.

All of them—_one_ _hundred_ of them to be exact—caused massive hemorrhaging, too much for Xeno to tend to in this current situation.

_(Song Ends)_

He was beginning to feel light-headed from a significant drop in blood flow, enough to force his paw-spikes to revert back to normal—dismissing his LEAF BLADE and METAL CLAW techniques. His Aura Vision ability disappeared from use as well, his blood pressure dropping too low to maintain it.

The Aura Pokémon was hunched over somewhat, his mouth agape and hyperventilating. Each and every one of his remaining blood cells was now working double-time—or perhaps _triple_-time—to supply his body with oxygen, just to prevent him from inadvertently collapsing. The temperature of his core body dropped somewhat as well, which is to be expected alongside all of the other symptoms that he had presently against him.

"Poor little puppy…" The hooded figure spoke in _front_ of the Aura Pokémon, with a feigned, mocking tone of pity. "You're all tuckered out and bleeding onto the floor like a little _bitch_, while I'm not even breaking so much as a _sweat_ on you."

"…" Xeno could plainly hear the hooded figure in front of him, but was incredibly fatigued to attack. Part of his conscious wanted to say a snappy remark, but he knew well enough that it wouldn't digress from this blood-bitter truth.

"You're not able to see this—what with all of this black and all—, but you're _literally_ showered in your own blood."

"…" Lucario paused briefly from hyperventilating to smell the blood on him. And sure enough, he could smell a vast amount of it on him. The smell of it was so great that he was unable to sniff for any traces of the hooded figure's scent.

"I'm surprised that you're actually still _standing_. With all of the blood that you've shed on the floor, you should be dead by now."

"…" Lucario, through what mental activity his fractioned blood still blessed him with, recalled his past events, where he escaped death by the skin of his canine-like teeth. He recalled his clashes with Absol—as a Riolu and in his current form—, his capture by Giovanni's Steelix, his unexpected injection with an altered Pokérus virus, his encounter with his mentally-distraught friend Sceptile, and his encounter with the Pokémon deities of the Sinnoh region.

Unfortunately, he was only able to recall bits and pieces of it. His mind was faltering on him, causing his vision to unnoticeably fade, much to his dismay.

"(Dead…huh…)" Xeno recalled enough of his past clashes to know just how precarious his own life has been set at times. "(And yet I…still live...despite what I've…gone through.)"

"Of course, with all of the hardships that the Dark One has informed me about you, I shouldn't be surprised to see you show such resilience."

"(Setting skills aside…what else has kept me…alive?)" Lucario pondered over this mystery.

"Still, you can only physically endure so much before your body fails you." The hooded figure continued.

"(That prophecy…is clearly too vague…to tell me...anything new…about myself.)" Lucario's elevated rate of breathing stabilized during this martial hiatus.

He stabilized just enough for him to consider one last technique.

"One more blow should finish you." The hooded figure's tone of voice grew somewhat more serious. "One more blow, to kill an infant before it reaches maturity."

"(So I'll just put…my survival instinct…to the test!)" Lucario formed a battle stance, disregarding the pain that this caused on his open lacerations.

Just as the hooded figure was about to decide his final choice of action, he noticed the Aura Pokémon's entire body glowing abnormally. He noticed Xeno emanating a brilliant yellow light, which simultaneously sparked small bolts of _electricity_ in assorted locations.

"What are you—?"

"_If what you said…about me is true…_" Lucario began to concentrate his energy into pure electricity that the fur on his body was temporarily containing. "_…If in the Dark One's eyes…assuming that He actually _possesses_ eyes…He sees me as a potential threat…_"

The electricity that Lucario was generating began to spark much more stalwartly, as the Aura Pokémon put more energy into it. The glow that this voltage was causing was actually strong enough to light the dark field that surrounded him. And because of this, Lucario was now able to see the hooded figure, which presently showed signs of astonishment at Lucario's power.

"(This light…)" The hooded figure shielded his eyes from the brightness of it by crossing his arms over his face. "(It's cutting through my darkness!)"

"_Then I have to survive…long enough to mature…my infantile power…to fulfill my prophecy!_"

The immediate end to Lucario's bold testimony caused his DISCHARGE technique to peak in power. Lucario stretched his body outward—disregarding the vile feeling of his lacerations splitting open with his movement—and the electricity dispersed in all directions at light speed, nullifying any form of evasion—especially his capability to drop into the shadows—that the hooded figure could perform.

The technique, sure enough, struck the hooded figure outright. His entire body became a victim to Lucario's DISCHARGE technique. His skeleton temporarily seeped through his flesh just from the sheer light that the electricity generated. His flesh cooked and smoldered with every arc of electricity that jumped across his skin. His muscles jittered unnaturally as the current disrupted basic neurological communication. His vocal chords tore at the force that he was screaming through all of this.

During this brutal retribution, the hooded figure's sable screen dispersed, revealing the undisturbed natural location that the both of them resided in.

The duration of the technique lasted for as long as Lucario's damaged body could muster. The technique stopped altogether after about ten seconds of continuous use, something that is difficult to do on a technique that disperses electrical energy ubiquitously in an instant.

Once DISCHARGE no longer existed in this scene, Lucario—now more fatigued than ever—eyeballed the hooded figure, fighting off his fading vision, hyperventilating heavily, and took full note of what he inflicted upon the enemy.

The hooded figure was smoking profusely from the smoldering energy that Lucario's discharge technique inflicted upon him. His black robe gave off the fragrance of ash remains—something that Lucario's sensitive snout can effortlessly identify—, and appeared more or less just as it smelled.

The hooded figure, whose face was still shrouded by his arms—as a means to protect his eyes from the bright light that Xeno emanated earlier—remained stationary for an abnormal amount of time.

Lucario didn't need his Aura Vision ability—partly because he was unable to muster the energy necessary to utilize it—to know that his DISCHARGE technique left the hooded figure's body _roasted_ to the third degree. All he had to do was look at the hooded figure's exposed hands—fighting off his warping vision—to see the damage that he inflicted upon him.

The hooded figure eventually set his arms down—slowly and as pain-free as physically possible—, exposing his charred face before Lucario. His countenance was filled with seething rage, which resided underneath peeling layers of blackened crusty skin. Most of his hair was burned away as well, leaving many bald spots on top of the hooded figure's reddened scalp.

"You rabid, bipedal bitch!" The hooded figure spitefully shouted, letting the pain of opening his mouth to speak drive his voice to intensify. "I will see to it that your death is as brutal and sanguine as possible!"

"…" Lucario's eyes began to sag, and his body began to wobble under the gentle breeze of the Red Sea's marine air.

"However, as much as I want to kill you…" The hooded figure's tone of voice mollified. "…I find myself having to remedy my _own_ injuries first."

"…" Xeno's eyes were failing him, but his ears weren't. He was still listening attentively at the hooded figure, while fighting off his fatigue simultaneously. The evidence of this was his half-open, semi-soulless, sanguine eyes, as well as his head tilting low and jerking back upward about every ten seconds.

The hooded figure's shadow warped into a broad circle that he resided into the midpoint of. And just as sudden as the shadow transmogrified, the hooded figure began to sink into it, as if it were sable quicksand.

"Of course, I've inflicted enough damage onto you to make your death a likely possibility." The hooded figure said as his knees sank below his warp shadow. "Howbeit, if you still _survive_ this and continue your prophetic trek, then I'll simply pursue you and _eradicate_ you at the earliest opportunity."

The hooded figure reached for the back of his neck with his right hand and grasped the tip of his hood, pulling it back upward and having it conceal his smoldered head once more. After he did this, the hooded figure crossed his arms and smiled underneath his veil, stalwartly able to ignore the pain of his inflicted burns. His body was now submerged up to his shoulders, and sinking about an inch a second.

"…Until another day, Aura Pokémon of Prophecy. I await your animal blood on my hands, and your cobalt body on the floor."

With those final words, the hooded figure disappeared from view. His shadow followed suit, and collapsed into its center before vanishing altogether. Any trace of the hooded figure was no longer apparent.

With the hostile threat—for the moment—no longer present, Xeno took this time to examine the severity of his lacerations.

He looked down and tilted his head down rigidly to see that his entire front side was _drenched_ in blood, and marked heavily with rent flesh. Lucario wanted to put a paw on his wounds and heal them with his innate abilities, but didn't know which one he should clench first. All of them seemed as serious to him as the others, the size of which mattering not when they were all draining his body of life-sustaining blood.

So rather than waste precious time examining each incision in greater detail—_especially_ the ones concentrated on his backside—, he decided to act fast and heal each injury individually, starting with the ones around his torso.

He placed a paw on an incision that just _narrowly_ scraped across his sternum. He thought of enveloping his paw in beneficial aura that would help him RECOVER from his injuries.

"(If I use RECOVER…on myself…to seal these lacerations…, then I'll…I'll…)"

Unfortunately, his drained stamina could no longer resist his imminent collapsing any further. His wellbeing relinquished to unconsciousness and caused him to fall back and onto his back, passed out from his detrimental injuries, his blood seeping into the grass that he lay upon, and his tail forcibly bent downward.

* * *

><p><em><span>23.2: Grand Confusion<span>_

Location: 28°N, 34°E (Solitary Tree atop a Hill)

Date: January 10th, 60 A.D.

Time: 5:07 PM

The sanguine eyes of the Aura Pokémon opened, groggily and slowly, during the day's reddening twilight. Xeno found his physical being placed comfortably on top of a white cloth, with his head resting pleasantly on a white pillow—with his dreadlock-like appendages spread across on the pillow and not below his head—, all with a white blanket keeping him pleasantly warm—or at least contained the escaping heat from his body.

He also could feel that he no longer bared the brutal lacerations that the hooded figure plagued his flesh with earlier, nor his fur rendered uncomfortably sticky from a surplus of coagulated blood.

He simply felt clean and relaxed, as if he had bathed himself, fallen comfortably asleep for the night, and awakened from his slumber.

Lucario's eyes stared off at the evening sky, at the scarlet clouds that hovered lazily thousands of feet above his reclined body. His mind however, trailed off at his most recent memories.

"(How am I still alive?)" He pondered with an insouciant mental tone. "(I recall planning on using RECOVER to tend to my critical injuries, but then I fell onto the floor from severe fatigue.)"

Lucario shuffled his body a little within his outdoor mattress until he was resting on his left side. In doing so, he now faced the massive Berry tree that I had planted long ago. He eyed his unequipped items—his battle armor and utility belt, with his colleague's Poké Balls as well as his own, undisturbed from their respective slots—and noticed that they remained where he had originally placed them.

He also took note of the wildlife of the Berry tree—green iguanas and white cockatiels—, all of them stagnant and resting for the day. However, he paid little thought to this and shuffled himself until he was resting on his right side, facing the Red Sea and the descending sun.

"(So…if _I_ didn't tend to my mortal injuries, who—?)"

He quickly stopped pondering to himself when he noticed two people sitting by the shore of the Red Sea, both of which were far enough from the water to not get soaked by it, and yet staring at the massive body of water before them. Lucario could feel a chord of nostalgia strum within his memory when he noticed the back of their heads.

"(Those two… Are they who I _think_ they are…?)"

The Aura Pokémon, as gradually and as painless as he could make this on his recovering body, got himself back upright, and hobbled over towards both people. In doing so, Lucario fought off his weakened body's tendency to give out from his overwhelming mental persistence and continued forward.

And as he got incrementally closer—slowly so that he didn't trip over himself—, he could begin to hear their conversation.

"Hey Costas, have you ever wondered how the Red Sea got its name?" Ian said with a tone that desired to start a conversation.

"Is it from that time where Eduardo shoved Mercury's Roman battalion into that body of water, and then _electrocuted_ them until they perished?" Costas smiled at that detailed memory. "He practically _chummed_ the water sanguine and attracted sharks to their bleeding corpses."

Ian simply shook his head at this uneducated guess. "No, it has nothing to do with Eduardo causing Roman scum to explode with electricity, and then having their bleeding corpses become shark bait. I was referring to a more…plausible hypothesis."

"Lay it on me, then." Costas was all ears.

"Well, according to Eduardo, there are a few theories as to how the Red Sea acquired its prominent name, His favorite theory—likely because it's the most achievable—is that the underwater foliage is actually responsible for _altering_ the color of the Red Sea. Eduardo says that there's this species of algae—Trichodesmium Erythraeum—that, when their blooms die off, actually cause the sea green color to _change_ into a reddish-brown color."

Costas ogles the aqueous body of the Red Sea in amazement. "Wow, there must be a _surplus_ of algae if it can make the whole Red Sea turn crimson."

When Xeno was within speaking distance of both brothers, he said "_Costas? Ian? Is that you?_" in a purely curious tone of voice, just moments before his feeble legs no longer supported his drive, and he collapsed within feet from their vicinity.

Both brothers turned their heads and upper bodies behind themselves when they heard Lucario speak, as well as flop onto the floor. Much to their hopes, Lucario was awake. But against their prognosis, he was prematurely active.

And seeing the Aura Pokémon (once more) on the grassy floor, both brothers were quick in assisting their most recent friend.

Both brothers stood back up onto their feet and fretfully rushed over to their comrade. Costas retrieved Lucario's left arm, while Ian retrieved Lucario's right arm. Both brothers, as they hoisted his body upward, were careful in not accidentally hurting _themselves_ from Lucario's dangerously keen paw-spikes. However, they had a respectable and helpful grip on Xeno, so their need to worry about that was nothing more than an extra safety precaution.

And with their assistance, Xeno Lucario regained his bipedal posture, one foreleg at a time.

Both brothers, with one of his arms on each of their shoulders, helped guide him back over to his makeshift colorless bed. Lucario found himself properly supported, albeit reluctantly guided.

"I don't know if you have a naturally-active disposition or are just a quick-healer," Ian talked beside Lucario's right ear. "But it's _imperative_ of you to rest to regain your strength."

"We found you black, blue, and red _all over_." Costas resisted the urge to snicker beside Lucario's left ear. "You're actually quite fortunate to still be alive."

Both brothers stopped walking when they reached the white bed that Lucario arose from. They removed Lucario's arms from their shoulders and expected the Aura Pokémon to get back to bed. However, Xeno was far more resilient than the naked eye could perceive.

"_I'm well aware of my butchered state earlier,_" Xeno almost whimpered at the atrocious feeling that he recalled his body endured earlier. "_However, I'll feel much better if I remain upright rather than on this outdoor bed._"

Xeno briefly eyed Ian and assured him of his earlier statement.

"_After all, you are right in saying that I have a naturally-active disposition._"

Ian seemed to smile at his earlier speculation.

Lucario, recalling how both brothers were present when he regained consciousness, had a question surface within his mind.

"_How did the two of you heal me so quickly?_" Lucario inquired before he examined where his lacerations once formed on his fur, detecting no anomalies whatsoever, not even a scar or a bald spot. "_No. Not just quickly, but _perfectly _as well._"

Both brothers looked at each other, with motionless facial expressions, unsure at how to break this news to him.

Of course, when they re-faced their befriended Aura Pokémon, they had their word choice set.

"We never healed you, Xeno." Ian admitted somberly.

"To be honest, we just stood idly by and watched." Costas confessed with a stern visage.

"_You both…did nothing?_" Lucario couldn't comprehend the situation, and seemed emotionally stunned by this conundrum. "_Then…who saved my life?_"

Just as Xeno finished speaking, he suddenly sensed a strong concentration of aura, emanating from an impending object, flying high above the sky. He looked behind his place and stared at the sky, as did both Costas and Ian when Lucario did so. They all saw a small, human-shaped speck amongst the darkening sky.

Xeno didn't know what to make of this, but both Costas and Ian did.

"Get ready, Xeno," Costas told the Aura Pokémon.

"Your savior should be arriving shortly," Ian followed suit.

Just as my brothers and the Aura Pokémon noticed my imminent arrival, I was already directly overhead of them three. With both the S3-OSS.B ("Great Ball") and the S3-OSS.T ("Luxury Ball") in hand, I had them both drop me like a stone onto the floor. However, just before hitting the grass below, I had them impede my descent when I was only a couple of feet above the surface. The result was a comfortable descent onto the ground.

Based on the anxious facial expressions of both of my brothers, they seemed to await my arrival. However that was not the case. What they _truly_ awaited was for a proper introduction between, what they believed, to be the two most powerful forces on this planet.

Lucario seemed to take into full detail my entire external appearance. He was quick to assimilate the key details that made me separate from the tellurian norm. He took notice of the black "X" from the sashes placed over my torso, and the holsters by my waistline, all for storing my S1, S2, and S3 devices. He noticed the eye patch over my left eye, as well as the second blood network that was present across my hands and my patched left eye—not the ones on my stomach and feet that my clothing and shoes concealed however. He also took into account my basic fashion sense—a white shirt, blue jeans, and monochrome shoes.

"…" All of me just seemed to stun Xeno's physical being, for some unknown reason.

"Well guys, I'm back from my little errand." I said while storing my unneeded pair of S3-OSS devices away within their designated slots on my sash, keeping my eyes focused on my gadgets for the time being. "There's nothing abnormal to report at all. All of my Berry trees are in optimal condition and producing a plentiful bounty of delectable fruits. And the greenhouse system keeping them alive and healthy is functioning suitably as well."

Once my two S3-OSS devices were secured, I directed my mono-optical gaze towards my two brothers. And in doing so, I noticed that Xeno had regained consciousness and was standing upright just between my brothers and myself.

"…" Xeno Lucario, for reasons that I've yet to comprehend, was just staring at me with a hollow, fixed stare.

"I see that you're now up onto your two feet." I began to converse with the Aura Pokémon, with a temperate and welcoming tone of voice. "You regained consciousness when I was off on my little errand, eh Xeno?"

"…" Xeno remained still as a statue, the thoughts radiating within his mind virtually nonexistent.

His current status didn't alter my attempts at communicating with him. I just cogitated that he was analyzing my being silently and continued speaking to him, stepping a little closer towards him in the process.

"How are you feeling right now? Has your strength returned to you after that _horrendous_ collection of lacerations that I mended earlier?"

"…" There was still no response from the Aura Pokémon.

Another differentiating tactic was in order.

"Are you hungry, Xeno? Do you desire something to eat? You were unconscious for a respectable amount of time after all."

"…" Just a soulless sanguine stare is all that I was receiving from Lucario's established eyes.

Both of my brothers, whom appeared anxious at our eventual first acquaintance, now appeared anxious for an entirely different reason.

"(This can't be going well…)" Costas pondered.

"(Its body language…)" Ian pondered alongside his brother. "(I can't help but feel as if it'll…)"

I remained unmoved by Xeno's social rigidity and continued with one last tactic.

"How in God's name did you _obtain_ your profuse injuries earlier?"

With that question, Xeno _finally_ showed signs of a reaction towards me. Unfortunately for me, that reaction was blindingly swift and _offensive_.

Lucario, from his perspective, formed METAL CLAW on his right paw, just as he brought it up to my left eye. And faster than I could see, Lucario raked the left side of my face, leaving a three-pronged slash that sliced deeply into my flesh, as well as my useless left eye, and the eye patch that concealed it, freeing it from being strapped onto my face.

Still within the second that his first attack was launched, Lucario's left paw flared a shining white light before he followed up with a devastating uppercut. His SKY UPPERCUT technique struck stalwartly at my lower jaw, shifting it forward abnormally and _almost_ luxating it from its normal placement. Also, the sheer physical power that Xeno surprisingly possessed actually _lifted_ me off of the ground and about ten feet up into the air.

I descended down onto the ground, back onto the floor, unconscious by the alacrity and the density of Lucario's sequential techniques. My shredded and divided eye patch fell afterward onto the floor directly beside me, slower than when _I_ did, no longer concealing my blank left eye—especially since _both_ my eyes were abnormally retained open, my left eye bleeding profusely.

Before Lucario pondered striking me when I'm down, he suddenly felt his energy drain from him to the point where his METAL CLAW technique disbanded, and he kneeled down to one knee. His strength had not returned to him after his brutal ordeal, and his body didn't want to cooperate with his mental perseverance. He found himself hyperventilating momentarily to cope with the fractioned blood within his body.

My brothers, upon seeing my unconscious body on the grassy floor and bleeding on the left side of my face, reacted immediately to this and ogled their "friend" with traumatized facial expressions.

"What the _hell_ did you just do?!" Costas shouted in negative astonishment.

"Why did you just assault our _brother_?!" Ian followed his brother's lead.

Xeno feebly stood back up on both feet and ogled the antagonistic countenances of both Costas and Ian.

"_Oh…I have a _surplus_ of reasons as to why I struck him in cold blood._" He smiled vindictively at his actions. "_For starters, that man is the one that—_"

Lucario's eyes widened and his grin disappeared when he recalled one _critical_ detail that Ian mentioned earlier.

"_Did…did you just say that…he's your _brother?" Lucario was beginning to ingrain mental discombobulation, and his tone of voice reflected that.

My brothers were keen to notice Lucario's blunder and slowly nodded at him with cautious faces.

"_So then…_" Xeno elevated his left arm and pointed a stubby digit of his paw directly at me. "_That person is…your brother…_Eduardo?"

My brother repeated their earlier action once more.

"…" Lucario remained silent as he attempted to make sense of all of his recent experiences. In doing so however, he was only growing _exponentially_ more and more discombobulated. The severity of this was gradually reflecting itself on his countenance, in the form of cringed eyes, and a skull-splitting headache.

"…Xeno?" Costas meekly inquired at this unexpected behavior.

Lucario's headache proved to be agonizing enough for him to clutch the sides of his head in anguish, and growl deeply at the distress of it all.

"…Are you alright?" Ian inquired as well, unsure of what to make of his choice of action.

Lucario head hyperbolically felt as if bullets fired from multiple machine guns ricocheted endlessly within the inside of his skull, tearing away at his sensitive brain tissue with each uncoordinated redirection of the metaphorical firearm ballistics. The torture of it all caused his clutched head to reel back in pain, his paws' digits to press into his cranium, and his mouth to open wide in roaring pain.

My brothers, puzzled by Xeno's distressing behavior, figured that words would not suffice here. They decided to approach Lucario and see what they could do within their power about this.

However, Lucario wasn't thinking properly at all with this massive encumbrance plaguing him. He lowered his head briefly to ogle—with dilated, trembling, bloodshot eyes—both brothers approaching him. And at the sight of this, he instinctively made like an Abra and used TELEPORT to warp away from his current location, disappearing from sight, and from this location.

Both Costas and Ian were left frozen in their tracks, and looking around their field of vision in vain to see where the Aura Pokémon could've warped off to.

"What was _that_ all about?" Costas looked back at his brother, unsure about what just occurred.

Ian looked back at his brother and responded with shrugged shoulders.

As my brothers were fixed on themselves, they never noticed when I came back to my senses.

When I regained consciousness, I blinked and shuffled my eyes a few times, both eyes stinging a bit—my left eye in _particular_—from remaining open and becoming somewhat dry for a prolonged period of time. I also shuffled my jaw somewhat, disliking the sore feeling that I had on my joints. But once that was taken care of, I collected my physical presence and bent myself forward until I was on one knee. When I did so, I noticed blood dripped down onto the foliage below. The reason for this was immediate for me to recall, but I paid no mind to it, and looked around myself for my amputated eye patch, noticing simultaneously that Xeno Lucario was nowhere within the area.

The eye patch that came off of my eye lied directly adjacent of me. I notice its presence on the floor and retrieve its pieces, with my right hand. I stare at it and contemplate an idea.

"(These eye patches are always too fragile for me to use.)" I ponder before discarding the eye patch by surrounding it with my hand in the form of a fist, and then spontaneously combusting it by emanating Red (Fire) Aura on my hand for a few seconds.

Afterwards, I stand back upright on both feet and open my hand, seeing how the eye patch was now reduced to filthy ash.

"(In the future, I should make a far superior one,)" I pondered as I watched the wind steal away the ash in my hand until only some mild dark residue remained in my hand. I wiped this away effortlessly by rubbing on the side of my jeans. "(Perhaps if I brainstormed it at a later time, I could have a potential 'S-Rank' device in hand.)"

My brothers eventually notice that I've regained my bipedal posture. They were quick to approach me, thankful that I was still alright.

"Whew…thank God that you're alright." Costas was relieved to see me still alive.

"Well…except for…" Ian traced three fingers along the side of his left eye, matching their movements with the coordination of my three-pronged laceration.

I look down at my white shirt and notice that the left side shoulder area was stained somewhat with the blood that was currently dribbling from the left side of my face—the slash wound that stretched from the top of the left side of my forehead, to the center of my left eye, to my left cheek. This blood, if my face leaned forward from my body, dripped down onto the grass below. I briefly placed my left hand on my wound—while simultaneously disregarding the sharp stinging pain—, and then removed it, noticing that it was mostly covered in blood.

"Yeah, I know," I said with sympathetic nonchalance, despite being on the receiving end of Xeno's one-two punch. "And judging by its lack of presence, I'd assume that it disappeared?"

Costas simply nodded in confirmation of my assumption.

"More like '_teleported_' if you asked me." Ian corrected.

"(Teleportation, huh…)" I discreetly pondered in astonishment of Lucario's ability before returning from my digressed topic. "What exactly made it choose to warp?"

My brothers briefly looked at each other with puzzled countenances and then looked back at me.

"We don't know _what_ exactly." Costas believed. "But we believe that it was enough to cause Xeno to have a headache, one potent enough to cause it to lose any rational thought and warp away without a trace."

Because I was unconscious for the brief moment that this occurred, I was forced to use my imagination to reconstruct the scene. And when I did so, I could properly picture Lucario clutching his head in what would appear to be a headache of skull-rattling proportions.

"And that all began when Xeno realized that the person it harmed was the _only_ person that seemed most likely in returning it home." Ian added.

"(…Interesting…)" I accepted this key piece of information as fact.

"So…what are we going to do_ now_?" Costas inquired me, waiting for an answer.

"…" I decided to face the tree, noticing that all of his equipment was still present on the trunk, untouched in the least. I hold out my sanguine left hand towards Lucario's equipment and have it and my left hand both emanate Purple (Psychic) Aura, before telekinetically shackling his equipment and having it hover towards me until it is a few feet above of my head.

Now with my right hand, I retrieve my S1-GS device and hold it above my head. I open the device and assimilate all of Lucario's equipment into my infinite inventory, before storing my S1-GS device away and disengaging my Purple (Psychic) Aura.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do." I began speaking and reached for my S2-PTSDOv.2 device with my right hand—not wanting it to be stained red. "We're going to locate Xeno Lucario once more."

My brothers were in full agreement with me.

"Is it so that it can ask us what was on its head?" Costas inquired me.

"Is it so that it can apologize for raking you upside the head?" Ian followed closely behind.

I open my S2-PTSDOv.2 device dexterously with one hand and access the mainframe for my S3-OSS devices. And before I input the command to have all twenty-six S3-OSS fly off of my sash and scatter across the globe once more, I tell my brothers "Yes, but only if it desires that."

After that, a simple tap of a digital button caused every single one of my S3-OSS devices to detach from me, dart themselves high into the sky, and smack the sound barrier with twice the speed that it can manage.

Ian offers his hand to me. "Eduardo, let us locate him for you, while you tend to that wound on your face."

Knowing that it was for the better, I hand over my handheld omni-computer to him, before stepping beside them and proceeding over to the shore of the Red Sea. I only take one brief look behind me to notice my brothers ogling the screen of my S2-PTSDOv.2 device, while Ian showed enough skill to operate the basic controls of my S3-OSS devices.

"(Hopefully, we'll find that mysterious Aura Pokémon before anything critical occurs to it again.)" I ponder before stopping when the water of the Red Sea comes within inches of sousing my monochrome shoes. I place my left hand over the left side of my face, knowing that I'll leave a bright red handprint in the process, but that I'll wash it off afterward. "(I just wish finding him would be instantaneous rather than time-consuming.)"

With my uncovered right eye, I scan the entire Red Sea, seeing nothing but aquatic enormity over the horizon. Even if I concentrate on the edges of the water, I only see a lighter shade of blue, emanating from the sky above, as well as a few partial patches of white, from the cumulus clouds that harbor the same space.

My left hand emanated Green (Healing) Aura and gradually mended my wounds shut, preventing the taste of my blood from seeping into my mouth in greater concentration. My left hand, no longer required to emanate Green (Healing) Aura, drops back down to the side of my waist, curled up sufficiently to block off the abnormal coloring of my blood staining the inside of my hand.

"(What a massive world we live in. What a surprise to realize that there is another.)"

The next few minutes were spent cleansing my body from any traces of coagulating blood that Xeno drew from me. I exchanged my soiled shirt for a fresh new white one from my S1-GS device, and then I kneeled down to the Red Sea and washed my hands and face with the water before me.

When the skin on the left side of my countenance no longer felt brittle and crusty with coagulated blood, I stopped cleaning myself and waited for the water to disperse my discarded blood and return to its normal transparency. It only took the Red Sea a few moments to do so before I was able to see my reflection on the surface.

My working right eye was entirely focused on the three-pronged scar that Lucario's METAL CLAW technique branded onto me earlier. The scar itself wasn't as notorious as the ones on my backside—the aftereffects of the heinous Roman whipping session that I endured over a decade ago—, nor as abundantly flesh-consuming.

If anything, what this attack left me is a noticeable, almost vertical line that ran right through the center of the emptiness of my left eye.

To the average human being, bitter vindication and immediate vengeance would be almost _instinctive_ to inflict on the assailant of such an injury, especially if it was an animal. Of course, since I'm not an average human being—or not even _human_ as I've recently begun to mark myself—, I wouldn't think of doing these acts of retribution, not even in the least, for I respect this individual of the natural world just as equally as any other good person.

The only topic that this warrants of me is the pestering inquiries as to _why_ he chose to do this to me in the first place. For what reason could Lucario have in raking me upside the left side of my face? What was going on in his mind during this swift attack? Why did he TELEPORT away afterward, his brain scrambling within his skull from a severe headache?

I wish to ask Xeno for answers to these questions when we meet again. I wish to ask what he knows that I don't.

I faced by brothers again and notice that they're doing just as great a job as I would in searching for the Aura Pokémon. Judging by how they're handling my S2-PTSDOv.2 device, I could tell that they were reconnoitering every piece of land that the twenty-six S3-OSS devices hovered over, utilizing every possible lens function that each Optical Surveillance Sphere possessed.

Lamentably, they were having no luck at all, because this world is just too massive for twenty-six fist-sized "S-Rank" devices to survey over, even after taking out the obvious impossible variables—such as locating an anthropomorphic, bipedal canine within the large oceans of Earth.

If the size of the planet wasn't in their favor, the rotation of it wasn't cooperating with them either. The night sky continued to creep closer and closer upon us, and would make locating our mark somewhat harder, despite my S3-OSS device's Night Vision lens.

"(I suppose I'll have myself another sleepless night ahead of me…)" I pondered monotonously before returning to both of my brothers.

* * *

><p><em><span>23.3: Nighttime Headache<span>_

Location: Saudi Arabia (Desert)

Date: January 11th, 60 A.D.

Time: 2:32 AM

Against what my brothers and I thought of our target, he never warped far enough away from us. And rather than TELEPORT to the other side of the planet, he simply teleported a few hundred miles from our general location, more than enough to put himself in the middle of nowhere.

It's not that he _decided_ to warp himself here, in the middle of a blazing desert that is now a frigid and oversized sand box, poorly bathed under the faint glow of the moonlight. He was _unable_ to do so. His presently diminished strength prevented him from transferring his physical existence from Point A to a much farther Point B.

Of course, with his head feeling as if it was a pincushion for _knives_, the undulating temperatures were having no _greater_ effect on him.

Since he teleported over to this desert, he dragged his feet over the sandy, uneven terrain with every step of his padded feet. Each step seemed to create a miniature canyon rather than a pristine footprint. He traveled at a snail's pace for a Pokémon of his physical caliber: about five miles as of now. His forepaws seemed glued onto the sides of his skull, placed there as a worthless attempt to mollify his excruciating headache.

The headache _itself_ was draining his strength farther down than before. His tail dragged along the sand behind his feet, the muscles lining the base of his tail no longer able to muster up the strength to keep it level. His lower jaw was hanging loosely by its sockets, as he was hyperventilating and moaning from fatigue and pain, and dripping of running saliva. His snout dripped somewhat of blood from an earlier aneurism as well.

Eventually, it all proved too much for him, and the front of his being collapsed over onto the freezing sand. His face buried partially into the sand, staining with a mixture of dribbling blood and saliva that moistened it. The remainder of his body went limp, freeing his conscious from bearing the weight of his headache anymore.

Thankfully, the position of his mouth was against the position of his snout, so he was still able to breathe and not suffocate in the sand.

Very little time passed after Xeno fell unconscious when a sable rift in space formed about fifty feet behind Lucario's present location. The rift in space formed a sphere of darkness, about six feet in diameter, as well as black enough to blend into the nighttime background.

This same sphere of darkness dispersed into the air, revealing the presence of the hooded figure once more, his black cloak blending into the sable setting quite effectively. The only area that his black cloak didn't conceal was his face, because the hooded figure didn't feel the need to conceal it. Alongside that, his face no longer bore the damage that his opponent inflicted on him with an electrical DISCHARGE. This made it clear that the hooded figure was true on his word: he fully recovered from his past ordeal, as well as obtained himself a new black cloak to replace the charred one that Lucario rendered his last one.

_Villains of a Sort/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD2 - Kingdom Hearts OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

The hooded figure nonchalantly stepped towards his fallen opponent's general presence, ogling the Aura Pokémon with a mild sense of pity, much like before during their very brief battle. He stops at the left side of the Aura Pokémon, close enough where one more proper step will put his foot on the back of Xeno's lumbar vertebrae.

"(I knew that you'd be confused by this revelation,)" The hooded figure pondered to himself, his eyes angled downward and locked onto the back of Xeno's head. "(However, I didn't think that it was possible for someone—or some_thing_—to _faint_ from severe discombobulation.)"

The hooded figure, to ensure that Xeno was actually unconscious, tapped the left side of his ribcage with his shoed foot a few times. Much to his expectations, Lucario didn't even so much as growl.

"(How _effortless_ it would be of me to kill you right now in your present condition, all distracted, helpless, and martially infantile…)" The hooded figure smiled at the thought of reckless animal slaughter, but only briefly when he recalled why _exactly_ he was here. "(…Unfortunately, I was given _very_ strict orders by the Dark One to restrain myself from doing so, and I'm beginning to understand why.)"

The hooded figure recalled his previous tête-à-tête with Eduardo. He recalled the two times that he interacted with me, when the hooded figure "convinced" me in returning to my home village—when in reality he knocked me unconscious and transported me into the center of the scrimmage —, as well as his explanation of Xeno Lucario, the Aura Pokémon. He only thought of them so briefly, because he was still pondering to himself.

"(Both you and Eduardo are _already_ beginning to connect socially. And if I were to kill you now, the timing is not yet perfect. The personal emotional shock of it all wouldn't cripple Eduardo enough for me, for the Dark One, to respond to.)"

The hooded figure then recalled his brief clash of yesterday, the one that ended with the hooded figure's retreat after enduring electrical injury to the third degree, and leaving Lucario with one hundred lacerations all around his body.

"(You're an enduring little bastard, and that past clash was only meant for me to test your current strength. From that battle, I can guarantee myself that you—as well as Eduardo—will be a larger encumbrance in due time. Nevertheless, the two of you aren't the _only_ ones that can evolve in strength. I'll be following closely behind, proving to be just as stalwart as the both of you.)"

The hooded figure, with his primary soliloquy accounted for, now decided to digress from this topic and contemplated what to do with the Aura Pokémon that won't kill him.

"(With those devices of his, Eduardo will eventually find you. That much I know.)" The hooded figure grinned maliciously once more. "(However, I won't make this easy on him, or any less _inflictive_ on you.)"

The hooded figure reached his right hand down to the back of Lucario's head and gripped the Aura Pokémon by his dreadlock-like appendages. Then, the hooded figure hoisted his limp body upward and closer to his level of posture, deliberately void of concern over how he was treating Lucario, or how exponentially _dense_ Lucario has become after falling unconscious. The hooded figure's surprising strength has allowed him to lift Lucario onto his legs, and then support his unconscious weight in a flimsy bipedal posture.

The hooded figure takes one quick look at Xeno's face—his drooling, epistaxis, unconscious face—and then averts his eyes shortly after in unquestionable abhorrence.

"(Ugh… I should've concentrated the majority of your injuries around your _face_ rather than your body.)" The hooded figure's face cringed at seeing such an expression. "(I just can't _stand_ the sight of you repulsive animals! How Eduardo admires, adores and respects you beasts as a whole is beyond my understanding.)"

The hooded figure's shadow spontaneously coils around itself and forms a wide circle that his feet stood in the center of, and Xeno's unconscious body resided within. From that same shadow, the hooded figure's feet—as well as Lucario's own—gradually sank into the sable rift. And in a few seconds, the remainder of their body followed. The hooded figure reequipped his hood over his head with his free left hand, just seconds before his head—as well as Lucario's moistened face—slipped underneath the black rift.

That same black rift assimilated into itself until nothing else remained within this desert.

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p><em><span>23.4: Return of the Dragon<span>_

Location: 28°N, 34°E (Solitary Tree atop a Hill)

Date: January 11th, 60 A.D.

Time: 9:06 AM

Just as I suspected earlier, my brothers decided to pass the torch that is my S2-PTSDOv.2 device back onto me. They desired to sleep during the night, and asked if I could take over, knowing that I've grown accustomed to the occasional sleepless night. And because of the present situation, I agreed to this automatically, and they huddled by the tree's trunk.

Operating the S3-OSS devices in tandem, I continued to scour the globe for any trace of Xeno Lucario. Of course, because of the sheer scale of the planet, the time required for this was daunting. In conjunction to this, my individual S3-OSS devices were spread too thinly across the planet.

So because of this, I've decided to reset the placement of my S3-OSS devices to return directly above me and spread out evenly outward from our current placement. Once I inputted this specific command, all that I had to do was wait for the S3-OSS devices to reunite together before departing once more.

The time that it would take, from my calculations, for all of this to occur would be approximately thirty minutes. I decided to have some breakfast while I waited.

_Thirty minutes later…_

Just seconds after I had finished my breakfast and stored away the used silverware, my S2-PTSDOv.2 device received feedback from one of my S3-OSS devices: my S3-OSS.R. When I learned of the placement of my S3-OSS.R device, my body's natural reflex to breathe seemed to temporarily leave me.

The placement of my device was over Rome, the capital city of the people that I despise the most on this world.

I honed the sharpness of the lens of my S3-OSS.R towards a massive empty lot within the center of this taboo city. Entirely around this lot, a ring of construction materials surrounded the land—a future sight of a Roman construction project. And from within the center of this barren earth, I could see Xeno _himself_ put on display, his body restrained in a similar method when I was during the torture session that I endured years ago—his arms shackled by the wrists, both of them chained and looped over an upside-down "U" wooden structure, forcing him upright by the strength of two Roman soldiers restraining him.

Alongside those two soldiers, eight more surrounded the Aura Pokémon, each of them facing him from a safe distance of approximately twenty feet, their feet forming the points of an imaginary octagon in the dirt. Each of these ten soldiers seemed far more ostentatious in their exterior appearance than the soldiers that I've collided with in the past. Their armor appeared night black in color, with rutilant tunics underneath that almost seemed to exude a golden aura from these corrupt people.

From the corner of the screen on my S2-PTSDOv.2 device, I noticed an eleventh person gait into the scene, stopping behind the imaginary octagon of the placement of those eight soldiers. This person, the most grandiose of them all, wore an all-covering pristine white tunic that was filled with far too much luxurious detail for me to digress onto. This same person, when his presence was made apparent by these ten soldiers—_excluding_ the two that were physically occupied in restraining the Aura Pokémon—, received obedient and subservient bows from his fellow people.

It didn't take a genius with an approximate I.Q. of 10,000 to realize that this person was Nero, the _current emperor_ of Rome.

Once I've received all of the information that I needed to formulate my next choice of action, I knew that there was not a moment to lose in retrieving the Pokémon that might hold the skeleton key to my questions.

With great haste, I stored my S2-PTSDOv.2 device back into its respective holster and reached for two of my S3-OSS devices from my central sash, with the intention of flying over to that location at Mach 2. Of course in doing so, I immediately assimilated the bitter truth that _all_ of my S3-OSS devices are presently indisposed by my past choices of scattered reconnaissance.

"(Well…crap…)" I thought at my elevating dismay.

Seeing as how my most obvious attempt at reaching the Aura Pokémon was inaccessible with the timeframe given, I began to contemplate a Plan B.

I've no transportation vehicle that can travel at any speed _close_ to Mach 2, much less _greater_ than Mach 2. So nothing in my S1-GS device would be of any beneficial use to me.

My Elemental Aura abilities, if I manipulated them to my advantage, can actually allow me to fly over to Lucario. However, similarly to my earlier dilemma, I'm unable to reach supersonic speeds at my current level of expertise. Anything shorter than supersonic speeds, and I'll likely arrive to a post-scene of an unfortunate murder, and then most likely soil all of the evidence when my emotions and Elemental Aura abilities in conjunction run amok.

As much as I would like to unleash primal, vindictive carnage on the Roman's stronghold, I'm conscious of the intellectual proficiency that I possess to remain concrete on my primary objective of rescue. Unfortunately, I find myself feeling an unpleasant sensation that hasn't surfaced forth from me in years.

A feeling of indisputable, infantile, and unadulterated _helplessness_ reached the surface of my being, one that weighs further down on the remainder of me presently than yesteryears ago, because of my evolved abilities and recent accomplishments.

Thankfully, before I begin to sulk over hyperbolic mental exaggerations of uncorrectable failure, a bright idea emerges from my mind, one that just might bring Lucario out of harm's way.

My trump card is my recently-discovered _dragon _form.

If I transmogrify into my pure white dragon form—_without_ reducing myself to critical levels of fatigue—, and then supplement my form's natural ability of flight with my Light Green (Wind) Aura, I just might _transcend_ supersonic speeds and reach that infernal Roman stronghold in _minutes_.

With this plan set firmly into my mind, my only obstacle in setting my strategy into realization is how to _access_ my dragon form, _consciously_ this time, and without self-inflicting injury.

I ponder that the closest way to find this answer is to meditate on it, to clear from my head any other irrelevant thought, any anxiety or erratic stress, until I'm successful.

I folded my body down onto the grassy floor below my feet. I sit cross-legged, with my elbows reclined on my knees, and my hands interwoven together by their fingers. I close my eyes and free my mind of any immaterial thought, finding that the last thought to exit my mental activity is how chronologically strangled my time had suddenly become.

Once I was completely free of my mind, my body soon followed suit—quick to do so due to the lack of sleep that I deliberately withdrew myself from—, and then I found myself within the confines of my own cerebral.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Eduardo's Subconscious<span>

Time: Unknown

_Into the Fantasy/Final Fantasy Tactics A2 - The Sealed Grimoire Original Soundtrack/Hitoshi Sakimoto_

_(Song Begins)_

Inside my consciousness, I found myself hovering downward and descending within a sable abyss. I had great difficulty seeing where I was going with such little light illuminating this location, and yet I knew I was descending downward because of a faint gravitational pull that made my body feel as light as a feather. Also, because my head was facing downward and I was being pulled downward as well, I felt a very mild sensation within my skull of elevated blood pressure, as well as mild vertigo.

"(What is this place?)" I pondered, astounded that I entered this mental state with such ease.

Seconds after that brief thought, I stare directly down and begin to see traces of the "floor" within this dark chasm. I noticed a neon-like crimson light that at first appeared as a small dot off in the distance. However, as I continued to descend downward, my eyes widen slightly as I noticed that this dot possessed a shape to it, once inspected closer and in more detail.

The shape appeared before me as a star-shaped pentagram, surrounded by a circle that connected all five evenly-proportioned points. The entire structure was highlighted sanguine and radiating as faintly as a red dwarf in the vast emptiness of the cosmos.

While the overall shape and scarlet illumination of this symbol was an enigma to me, I did assume that this is the "Ground floor" to this mental environment of mine.

As I was within fifty feet of this brilliant pentagram, I angled by body completely around itself, swapping the placement of my head and feet. The end result allowed me to gently touch down onto the surface of this platform, no longer falling and—hopefully—initiating the next step of my plan.

I looked all around myself, hoping to see any signs of the colorless dragon that I became earlier. But unfortunately, after about ten seconds of observation, all that resided around me was utter blackness, and mild disappointment within me.

"(Where could that dragon be?)" I pondered.

_(Song Ends Abruptly.)_

…**…Stomp…Stomp…Stomp…Stomp…**

As if premeditated, I suddenly began to hear minor signs of monstrous footsteps within this vacant vicinity. The footsteps followed closely in tandem with a single second time differential, and seemed to contain a sufficient amount of mass into them to cause this red-starred platform to resonate mildly. Unfortunately, the sound of the footsteps echoed heavily within this environment, so I found myself unable to accurately pinpoint where the exact _source_ was coming from.

Of course, I found myself not needing to listen to it, once I saw my dragon half gradually emerge from the darkness, directly in _front_ of me.

**…Stomp…**

At first, I saw its gleaming ash-black eyes—_both_ of them, not just one like my own—appear from the darkness.

**…Stomp…**

With another earth-trembling step, I saw the remainder of its head emerge from the shadows, the glimmer of its exposed facial bones—from its outwardly-angled teeth, to the bone spikes that stuck out of the back of its jaw line—becoming clear to my uncovered left eye.

**…Stomp…**

With a third step, its entire upper body emerged from obscurity, exposing its pristine, elongated, and crested white neck, as well as its spacious, colorless wings before me. The entire length of its arms appeared as well from the dimness of this nothingness. I could easily calculate the length of its claws at this stage.

They appeared about nine inches long, at the _shortest_.

**…Stomp…**

On its fourth step, its lower body appeared forth, from its stalwart lower legs—brandishing knife-like claw, just as intimidating as those on its arms—to the base of its tail. The entirety of its underbelly was present before me now, and I noticed no difference in color scheme whatsoever.

**…Stomp.**

And with one last step, it stopped approximately five feet from my stable stance, within arms' reach of me. Because of its towering height compared to mine, it had to stare down at me—since I was only six feet tall, and my dragon half was two-and-a-half _times_ that, from head to toe, _excluding_ its equally lengthy tail or the span of its wings—with ash-black eyes that expressed more curiosity towards me rather than hostility, much to my overall safety.

Of course, this was difficult of me to perceive with a countenance so genuinely scaly and unbending, so alien and unreadable. Its tail wasn't helpful in helping me analyze the dragon's personality towards me either. I looked briefly down at it and noticed that it was curled up to the right side of its tree trunk of a right leg, lying on the floor of this mental milieu, the tip of this whip-like tail flickering mildly left and right—feline-like, though not genuinely so.

My reptilian doppelganger, in favor of my wellbeing, wasn't growling at me in any tone whatsoever. I couldn't aurally perceive it growling at all, even if it was one that the average ear could detect, or one that a massive scaled organism could resonate at a low enough frequency. My ears, my _otherworldly_ sensitive sense of hearing that can detect even the faintest details, was detecting nothing aside from faint breathing from this draconic behemoth.

I tilted my head back up to its level just seconds before our expected tête-à-tête began.

_Dive into the Heart -Destati- ("Awakening")/Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete - CD3 - Kingdom Hearts II OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

"**Eduardo, evolving brandisher of Elemental Aura,**" My dragon half began to rumble the earth with its abrasive, bass voice this time, and not with its feet. "**Why did you divide yourself and seal me away within this mental abyss?**"

Because I was conversing with _myself_, I knew that bliss of mental privacy was unnecessary and null, and only the truth should be discussed. "I don't know what you're talking about." I responded with utmost honesty and cluelessness at this topic. "All I seek, within myself, is my alternate form. I require you. I require this _other_ me, this dragon me."

My dragon half retreats back a few stalwart steps before doing an about-face in front of me—almost swatting me upside the head with its broad wings, were it not for me tilting my head back slightly. It confirms my words and, without looking back at me, rumbles "**What use do I have to offer you—**_**me**_**—after such a dreadfully extended hiatus from existence?**"

My answer could not be more undeviatingly absolute. "There's a creature from a parallel Earth—a Pokémon by the name of Xeno Lucario—that I desire to save from Roman clutches. You, my hidden power, are my only hope of seeing that Pokémon live another day."

My dragon half turns itself 180 degrees to face me, returning to my field of vision. When it did so, I noticed an elevated curvature of its scaly lips, a devilish "V" formed by its teeth, a _smile_ on its face. This was followed promptly by the most sinister chuckle that I've ever heard, one that made me, through this scaly body, seem so unquestionably antagonistic that I've temporarily forgotten my disposition.

"**Heh heh heh heh heh… This power can't **_**aid**_**,**" My mirrored self begins to explain. "**It only destroys all within its reach!**"

As this hellish reptile continued to guffaw, the entirety within this plane of existence suddenly began to alter and transform before us. What was earlier a black oblivion of the mind has suddenly become a third-person replay recollection of my earlier actions.

And what was presently on play of my memory? Of all things, it was my clash against Mars and his Roman battalion of 500 soldiers. And because of our present location having changed before us, we appeared to be directly in the middle of this clash.

The totality of the battle played forth before me in all of its brutal brilliance. I saw myself—as well as Costas and Ian—exit our village home, only to experience first-hand the roasting of our beloved community. I saw myself, seething with rage, my fists clenched and my jaw in a muscular vice. I saw Mars, his legion of soldiers, decimating this village and its population. Then I saw Mars himself notice my presence and charge towards me with sword in hand, and bloodlust in mind, before stopping in his tracks when he saw what was occurring to me.

That's when my present dragon half opened its jaws wide, bared its hideous teeth, and roared in malicious laughter, one which echoed over the mental illusion that is present before us.

My ears were locked on at this nightmarish voice of satanic laughter of mine, and my functioning right eye was locked on at my unexpected transmogrification. All that I've felt undergoing throughout my metamorphosis—my blood becoming acidic, the flaming arrow piercing my left lung and setting my body ablaze, my massive wings and whip-like tail sprouting forth from my backside like a hell-born butterfly emerging from its cocoon, and the overall physical _calamity_ that I endured when my body muscle and skeletal structure changed shape and grew—was replayed before me, for myself to see in disheartening, third-person detail.

When the overall scene of horror subsided with my human scream being the last thing to warp into a draconic roar—moments after a shockwave erupted from me and knocked everyone back—, I found myself unable to distinguish _that_ roar from the cackling laughter that my dragon half unknowingly got itself into. The reason was simple when I understood that the voices of both are one and the same.

Once both the roaring and the mad laughter subsided, the next thing that I notice—recall—myself doing is kneeling onto the floor, hyperventilating and breathing fire simultaneously, in utter fatigue at the physical shock of the physical conversion that I underwent.

Mars, showing no signs of fear at the moment, rushed over towards me, hell-bent on my demise. But when his sword was about to fall on my head, I disappeared from sight, appearing in the core of his army, and tearing them apart with a terrifying amalgamate of brute force and Elemental Aura abilities.

I recall every little detail when it came to the point in time where I restrained Mars and listened at his earlier arrival to this village, where Xeno Lucario had bested him in combat and spared him before sending him away. I favored listening to Costas's and Ian's viewpoint of this information, and _decimated_ Mars's body when I no longer had any lingering use of him. I then noticed his gutted body thrown into the Red Sea, where it sank until the sunlight could no longer shine on his freshly-rotting cadaver.

This aquatic end to Mars caused the entire area surrounding us to return to its sable norm, with the pentagram's crimson light illuminated the area faintly, and my dragon half continuing to speak to me in its _unique_ tone of voice, the emotion of it amplified by the intimidating red glare of the platform's light that appeared to deceive the dragon's color as red instead of white.

"**If you intend to save this 'Xeno Lucario' creature of yours with this locked power that you desire to unleash, you'll only repeat your earlier performance, and render that Pokémon into a mutilated hollow shell, just like what you did to that thick-headed general!**" My dragon only seemed to smile at this idea, and contained its urge to cackle again.

These booming words of my other half resonated heavily into my psyche—as well as in my ears. I fully comprehended and understood how atrocious my earlier actions were, and never became conscious earlier of such unadulterated graphic violence.

I always knew that I had no problem with detailed manslaughter, especially because it's inflicted on the people that I despise, on people that get in my way, on people that risk the halcyon and immaculate village that I grew up in. However, with this dragon power that I've recently tapped into, I've realized just how much of a barbaric monster I've become.

My martial nature has become reflected onto the outside, with this form.

However, with this in mind, I've already established within myself my loss of connection with humanity, knowing well enough that I'm not human and that I'll never be. And I _don't_ intend to change my ways either in order to blend into the masses, because I'd reluctantly lose my individuality in doing so.

Also, because of this _decisive_ bit of personality trait that I adamantly know about myself, I know within my heart that what I choose to do is righteous and unyielding.

My lips curled upward and formed a smile, one where the mind reinforcing it is in absolute assurance of reasons for past actions.

"What a load of bullshit," I began. "So long as I'm in ironfisted control of my abilities, I'm completely dogmatic of my actions and consequences."

"**…**" My dragon half stayed silent, knowing well enough where its smaller half was going with this.

Once again, the sable background surrounding us transformed into the same exact scene that we were viewing earlier. The difference this time is that it resumed from the point in time post-battle, where I staggered my exhausted draconic body back to my house, where Costas and Ian waited.

I glanced over briefly at this scenery beside me before locking ash-black eye with ash-black eyes once more with my dragon half.

"I've never utilized my powers for selfish gain or unreasonable sinful acts. My choice on what to use these obtained powers of mine has _always_ resided on the realm of moral righteousness, for the protection of others."

The dragon within the background of this mental recollection has now stopped within feet of both Costas and Ian. Both of my brothers looked on at me, with no signs of fear at my actions or of my stature. They appeared as trustworthy and as openheartedly as they always were with me.

"With these powers of mine, I'm no earthbound abomination that solely exists to obliterate all within reach and all within sight. I selflessly use my powers to protect those that I _care_ about, those that I love and treasure, _against_ any harmful threats that might place my dearly beloved in peril."

My mental background now fades away and returns to sable norm when it depicts the moment in time where I lose consciousness before my brothers and collapse onto the sandy floor below. I pay no attention to this because I'm well aware of how this third-person perspective flashback ended.

_(Song Ends)_

"I am Eduardo, Man of Bulwark!" I speak with faultless authority, and hear my voice echo within this mental confinement, with just as much intensity as that of my dragon half. "And so long as I live, with absolute awareness towards my actions and consequences, I will remaindecisive in mind and stalwart in body, so that those that I respect can live their lives without the encumbrance of danger and the trepidation of death!"

"**…**" The countenance of my dragon half appeared as vacant as it normally is, silent before the bulwark of a pledge that I decreed upon myself.

However, in knowing this, it returned to its original ideas and resurfaced them in a manner that I didn't anticipate them to.

My dragon half smiled and cackled a bit, before its body posture dropped somewhat, tears streamed down its eyes, and it began to _cry._

_Experienced Many Battles/Naruto Shippuden Original Soundtrack/Toshiro Masuda_

_(Song Begins)_

"**How **_**long**_** have I desired the freedom that was reluctantly stolen from me?**" The dragon half confessed before me.

"…" I recoiled slightly from this change of behavior, but didn't budge any further and continued listening, listening to where this was going.

"**The division and mental imprisonment that **_**neither**_** of us recollects has left me **_**missing**_** the outside world that I've viewed from your memories.**" The dragon's tone of voice cracked over flooding emotions, causing an _unholy_ combination of sadness and malice to ring within my ears. "**The brief taste of freedom that I received when we clashed alongside Mars's enemy forces, with powers that you've never accessed before, has left me **_**begging**_** to return to this physical realm, and unchained from this mental depression!**"

Upon hearing these tearful words of genuine desire, I decide to appease to my larger half and extend my right hand out to it. My dragon half is quick to notice this, as well as the comforting smile that formed on my countenance.

"I needed your help, and you needed mine," I explained. "This way, we'd be helping each other out, and no longer suffering pointlessly as two halves, but as one whole."

My dragon half's return to emotional equilibrium was almost instantaneous that I had to recall when exactly it occurred. It wiped away the excess tears from its eyes with its arms and took in a couple of deep, rumbling breaths.

"**You're absolutely right.**" It said unquestionably.

"No, _we're_ absolutely right," I corrected my altered self playfully.

My dragon half smirked and nodded at my correction before it reached out its clawed right hand and connecting it with my own.

Just as we both did so, the mental fissure that we both presently dwelled in now blinded our existence with brilliant white light. And during this moment, the both of us temporarily lost feeling in our physical placement, apparently becoming fleetingly detached from our physical bodies and reuniting as a whole.

"**The whole entity that we once were has now been restored.**" The dragon's voice echoed within this field.

"I only wish I remembered what happened that divided us apart." My voice echoed before I found myself awakening from my subconscious and returning to my original place on Earth.

_(Song Fades to an End)_

* * *

><p><span>Location: 28°N, 34°E (Solitary Tree atop a Hill)<span>

Time: 10:11 AM

After this mental journey of mine concluded, I instantly recalled Xeno Lucario's current predicament. In doing so, I opened my eyes, my naked right eye giving my facial expression more composure than earlier. I knew now that I stood a chance in rescuing the captured Aura Pokémon, especially since I retrieved this power that I had—with no memory on the matter—sealed away before.

I slowly stood back up and looked briefly at the sun through the corner of my left eye, judging its present eastward presence and then calibrating myself to look northwestward—the direction where Rome resides from here—, facing the coastline of the Red Sea in the process.

With my mind focused on one primary objective, I pondered "(I'm ready to save you, Xeno Lucario)" before my Elemental Aura abilities flared in unison.

In an instant, my body was set ablaze with the power of the twelve Elemental Aura abilities that I had presently learned—Red (Fire) Aura, Orange (Melee) Aura, Yellow (Lightning) Aura, Light Green (Wind) Aura, Green (Healing) Aura, Dark Green (Nature) Aura, Light Blue (Ice) Aura, Blue (Water) Aura, Purple (Psychic) Aura, Brown (Earth) Aura, White (Light) Aura, and Black (Darkness) Aura. All twelve of these traits to my power flared one by one, in a blend of attributes, across the areas of my body where they were highlighted—my right eye, my extra blood vessels, and my aura field. And just as quickly as this occurred, I became _completely_ cloaked from existence of the outside surroundings, once this phenomenon of mine revolved rapidly around myself and encased me in a spherical cocoon of aura proficiency.

The force that this feat generated was easily overpowering the natural environment around me. The water by the Red Sea was repelled back, the grass surrounding where I stood upon was obliterated, and the earth surrounding me was blown apart and thrown into the air, creating a gradually-increasing crater that I stood upon. The overall sound of this mimicked the potency of gale-force winds, likely caused by the sound of air shredding into itself as it revolves around me.

All of this seemed to provide an excellent substitute alarm clock for my sleeping brothers.

_Dragon Awakened/Pokémon Black & White/Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose, Shota Kageyama, Hitomi Sato, Morikazu Aoki, Minako Adachi, Satoshi Nohara_

_(Song Begins)_

My brothers wake up immediately and notice this scene of natural distress that was occurring all around my encasing rainbow sphere. Both brothers looked at this in astonishment, but with no apparent fear of the situation—especially since they're aware of the _person_ behind all of this—or knowledge behind the reason of it all. They simply watched on, wondering where I was going with this.

_(Song Becomes Dramatic)_

Eventually, this same sphere outwardly expands to _triple_ its original diameter, before dissipating into the air a few seconds later. Once it does, the Eduardo that my brothers knew has taken on the alter ego that I've recently acquired in my past Roman clash.

The enveloping rainbow sphere that my Elemental Aura formed for me has allowed me to transform _at will_ into the dragon that I once became. My overall posture remained unchanged from my anterior body, staring on at the same exact direction that I was facing, upright and steadfast.

And with this eerily nostalgic body of mine once more in my control, I outstretched my massive wings to my left and right sides, my elongated tail outstretched directly behind me, and then I inhaled massively and exhaled deeply only once to accustom myself to the differences between my normal form and _this_ one. The factor that settled into my physical norm the quickest was my recovered vision on my previously patched left eye.

My two brothers, from behind my back, ogled my draconic return and couldn't fathom how I successfully mastered this recently unearthed trait of mine.

_(Song Fades Away and Ends)_

My wings and tail, after outstretching them, _remained_ outstretched for obvious reasons. With my elongated neck, I rotated my head to the left, almost _entirely_ backwards of my posture, and eyed my brothers with my regained left eye, as well as a toothy—and accidentally unnerving—smile.

"**Costas… Ian…**" I begin to explain to my incredulous brothers, with this antagonistic voice that my draconic form inadvertently acquires. "**Before you curiously ask me how I transformed again, I'll need to take my leave immediately.**"

My brothers remained silent and attentive, their jaws hanging by a thread at how much in disbelief they were at me.

**"And when I return…they'll be a total of **_**four**_** of us present and accounted for.**"

My brothers almost felt their hearts skip a beat at the sound of such reinvigorating words. Then again, that could've easily been from the tone of voice that I presently displayed, but I knew that it wasn't because they've habituated themselves to the plain unholy sound of it.

With no time to waste, I squatted down somewhat before catapulting myself into the air. Once in mid-air, I flapped my massive wings and elevated myself higher into the air. And in the process, I streamlined my body and traveled forward, already reaching triple-digit speeds in the process.

Once I had a surplus of momentum going for me, I amplified my speed by firstly emanating Light Green (Wind) Aura in sufficient quantities, and then activating my _Aero Sphere Twister_ technique. The end result created an anti-drag ovoid of wind that enveloped my entire body. And when this was supplemented with my heightened speed, I overshot the levels of velocity that my S3-OSS devices could. In short, I rocketed northwestward from my earlier location.

…At the ear-shattering speed of Mach 3.

My brothers could only watch on from their earthbound presence as I disappeared over the Red Sea horizon in mere seconds, the air crying in pain as I sliced through it.

"Costas…" Ian began, staring off in the direction that I travelled. "Have you ever pondered just how surprisingly little we know about him?"

"Yes I have…" Costas replied, looking ahead as well. "But I'm too busy thinking just how _unique_ he is compared to everybody else. He's easily one in a million, maybe even one in a _billion_."

"No, he's not," Ian explained. "He's just one. The one that coexists with us all."

* * *

><p><em><span>23.5: Uniquely Mysterious<span>_

Location: Rome (Empty Lot)

Time: 10:22 AM

Xeno Lucario, debilitated of strength after his mental episode hours earlier, remained upright and chained, forcibly by the presently overpowering strength of two of Nero's personal Roman guards.

Despite the chain of events that led to him falling unconscious hours earlier, he was presently conscious, and fully awake and aware of his surroundings. He watched on with an irritated facial countenance at the Roman guards before him, knowing that he was powerless at this moment—because of the state that the hooded figure had left him in earlier. He made sure that each and every Roman guard around him paid attention to his sanguine glare.

The eight Roman guards soon surrounded the subdued Aura Pokémon within their imaginary octagon, each and every one of them holding barbed whips that could tear flesh apart with every strike onto the body. They all carefully uncoiled these whips with their hands, hoisted them behind their backs, and jerked them forward so that they'd strike Lucario's furry blue body. They all whipped the Aura Pokémon a few times before abruptly stopping when they noticed an unexpected abnormality.

_None_ of their whips were drawing blood from Xeno's body. They weren't even scratching the surface of his skin. At best, they merely irritated his ears with their air-snapping sounds, and ruffled the patches of Lucario's fur where the whips made contact.

They couldn't harm him physically, and only _worsened_ him emotionally.

"(If I wasn't so debilitated right now, I'd kill all of you senselessly.)" He growled within his thoughts.

One of the Roman guards breaks off from the group's imaginary octagon and walks back to a discombobulated Nero, who was watching on from a reasonable distance.

"Your Excellency," The Roman guard began. "It appears that the whips aren't effective _at all_ on this sapphire beast."

"Yes, I can see that." Nero said, glaring at this beast, even when Lucario locked eyes with him as well. "I've never seen an animal so small possess a hide that is this physically dense. I can't even begin to fathom its constitution."

"What are your orders, Your Excellency?"

"…" Nero contemplated how the barbed whips were ineffective at scratching Xeno's flesh, and quickly contemplated a different tactic. "Set the whips aside, and pierce him with a barrage of arrows."

The Roman guard, after receiving his orders, was quick to return to his group and pass on the Roman Emperor's orders. The able-bodied eight guards set aside their barbed whips and retrieved a bow, as well as a loaded quiver, before returning to their original location.

Seeing all of this simply caused Lucario to yawn out of boredom, and not sense any signs of danger whatsoever.

"(Unless they can give me one hell of a headache, I'm just not going to give a crap.)" Xeno pondered and stared attentively at each Roman guard.

Each Roman guard retrieved an arrow from their respective quivers and loaded their respective bows. They pulled their strings back and aimed directly towards the Aura Pokémon. They all fired in tandem, each of their arrows firing straight and true, directly towards a relaxed Aura Pokémon.

Unfortunately, all of the arrows met a similar fate of uselessness as the barbed whips did when they made direct contact with Xeno. Each and every arrow bounced off of his body before falling onto the floor, none of which managed to draw blood or scratch his skin. A couple of the arrows were aimed directly at his eyes, but he was more than able to see these coming and tilted his head to avoid their path, causing the arrows to miss and hit the floor when gravity pulled them back down.

The same Roman guard that received Nero's orders showed considerable signs of frustration at Lucario's resilience and threw his bow aside in the process. He then decided to take matters into his own hands—quite _literally_—and ran directly behind Lucario before gripping the sides of his head with two gauntlet-gloved hands. With his fingers practically at Lucario's eye sockets, he forced Xeno's eyelids open, causing growing frustration with the Aura Pokémon.

"It's eyes! Shoot for its eyes again!" The guard shouted at his colleagues.

The Roman guards were immediately aware of their colleague's reasons and followed his demands. They quickly retrieved another arrow from their quivers and reloaded their bows.

Xeno Lucario, now _severely_ pissed off at his personal space being violated, exposed his gritted fangs and snarled heavily.

"(Don't you touch me!)" He pondered, before leaning his head forward—pulling the Roman guard behind him forward as well—and slamming the back of his head alongside the front of the guard's head in the form of a skull-rattling HEADBUTT.

The strength of the attack—despite Lucario's feeble state—was easily enough to break the Roman guard's nose, as well as knock him back and down on the floor, freeing the Aura Pokémon's face from his cold, metallic hands.

The Roman guard could feel his head rattling and his nose hemorrhaging from the blunt trauma that the back of Xeno's skull inflicted upon him. He curled himself up slightly and put a hand on his nose, quickly noticing that when he removed said hand, all he saw on it was blood concealing metal.

The Roman guard looked up at his assaulter and noticed that he was looking back at him, grinning and snickering at his broken nose injury.

"You blue, bipedal bitch!" The Roman guard was seething with rage as he got back up on his feet.

However, just before he could make another hostile move at the Aura Pokémon…

"Enough!" Nero demanded. "Don't let your anger cloud your better judgment!"

The Roman guard managed to have Nero's words reach him and immediately proceeded over towards him. He loyally bowed down before Nero, placing one knee on the floor and tilting his head likewise, deliberately absent-minded about his broken nose hemorrhaging a sanguine stain onto the earth below. "…My apologies, Your Excellency. (*Sniff*) I just briefly let my temper flare and burn a hole through my sense of reasoning."

Nero allowed this incident to slide and focused his attention towards the Aura Pokémon once more. Xeno was presently staring at him vehemently, anticipating whatever failure of an attempt he could ponder next.

Because of this, Nero contemplated his next move carefully.

"(Blunt force doesn't seem to have any reasonable effect on this animal, nor does piercing force either.)" Nero began to ponder. "(If I want to slaughter this abnormality, I need to strike at it when the iron is hot.)"

Nero then recalled key words that his respective guard mentioned earlier.

"(Perhaps _fire_ would suffice as a plausible tactic against this cobalt beast. Fire is extreme enough to render the strength of resilient metal into manageable lumps that can be shaped into useable items. I suppose I can apply this similar tactic in rendering the life out of this natural oddity.)"

"(…I don't like whatever is going on inside of your head.)" Lucario pondered, unsure of whatever Nero is planning due to his current incapability of reading minds.

With his next tactic set, Nero clasped his hands together and looked down at his kneeling subsidiary.

"Rise up as you once were, noble sentinel." Nero began, and immediately received the response that he commanded. "I need you and your men to ready a furnace. We are going to cleave this feral monster in two with a sword set ablaze in white-hot intensity."

"Yes, My Excellency!" The Roman guard accepted Nero's new orders, and proceeded back to his colleagues, where he spread the word and had the seven other able-bodied guards follow him in order to assemble the item desired.

Lucario's eyes widened slightly and his ears dropped moderately to the side. "(Oh crap… They're _trying_ now…)" He pondered with mild anxiety.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Mediterranean Sea<span>

Time: 10:34 AM

_Messa da Requiem: Dies irae - Tuba Mirum/The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music/London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Choir, The London Chorus, and David Parry_

_(Song Begins Bombastically)_

Just above the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, I rocketed across the water at a terrifying Mach 3, pushing myself onward towards my intended goal.

My superior speed actually caused a delay in reaction of the water as I passed by above it. From below the surface of the calm waters, I would be seen as a massive winged figure, streamlined and reptilian, fully encased in a ovoid dome of wind—supplemented by my Light Green (Wind) Aura—and speeding onward in the blink of an eye. A split second later, the wind that was snapped from my sonic boom would upset the tranquility of the water and cause a pillar of it to shoot upward a few stories into the air, before splashing back down onto the water below.

I managed to hunch my head and neck underneath my underbelly to see the aquatic wake that I briefly left behind me, before aligning myself back forward a few seconds after.

Across the left side of my face, I noticed towering cumulus clouds forming above the surface of the Mediterranean Sea, a few dozen miles away from my ongoing location. These clouds, dozens of square miles in size, only lasted on the horizon for about a minute before they disappeared from my heightened sight.

At this speed, I could see the world revolving directly beneath me, and I was actually _transcending_ it instead of following it.

On another day, I would find myself enjoying this indescribable euphoria of speed and scenery. However, on _this_ day, I knew what was more important. And I only hoped that, despite my abilities reaching new levels of versatility, I wasn't too late in fortifying the safekeeping of Xeno.

_(Song Calms Down)_

* * *

><p><span>Location: Rome (Empty Lot)<span>

Time: 10:40 AM

As Nero demanded, the eight able-bodied Roman guards constructed a furnace within the area. Half of the guards gathered solid blocks of cobblestone, while the other half gathered small wooden logs and coal to burn.

The guards that collected the solid bricks placed them all in a shape of a hollow cube, five feet across from one point to another, with only a hole on one of the walls. The guards that collected the flammable material inserted it within the furnace and ignited it with spark rocks that they had in hand.

The end result created a concentrated inferno that managed to exceed 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nero approached the furnace and unsheathed his equipped Gladius sword from its scabbard. He inserted the entire blade portion within the hole on the wall, sparing the handle that he held from the intense heat—for obvious reasons.

As the blade took its time in heating up, Nero ogled the Aura Pokémon with a vindictive countenance.

Xeno noticed this and mimicked the Roman Emperor's actions, only to feign mental rigidity and prevent any signs of weakness from being exposed to the public.

"(What kind of a predicament have I gotten myself into?)" He began to ponder his misfortune. "(I'm powerless in freeing myself, and too restrained of time to gather my strength back… I don't recall how I ended up here in the first place…)"

Lucario briefly looked away from Nero to notice the sword that he held within the furnace. The silver blade of the Gladius gradually began to glow a faint red color as its temperature was equalizing with that of the conflagration.

"(…And now I'm about to be stabbed to death…by a primitive human race.)" Lucario whimpered under his breath. "(If I even had a fragment of my strength coursing through me, I can create a resistance to fire. However, I don't, and my 'mind over matter' resistance will not prevent me from being pierced through like butter.)"

"(I wonder what could be going on in that little, blue skull of yours?)" Nero pondered, looking at the blade in hand, noticing how its color began to grow more and more scarlet from the heat. "(I suppose it doesn't matter, once I pierce your throat in two.)" He smiled at the thought of slaughter.

Lucario's head tilted down at the dusty floor below his feet. His eyes locked on at the gravel, but his mind wasn't.

"(Where did I go wrong in my life?)" He began to recall his past actions, attempting to make sense of what happened that led to his inadvertent presence here.

* * *

><p>(Xeno Lucario's Flashback)<p>

_ Below on the forest floor, there exists a Pokémon egg between the gnarled and thick roots of one of the thousands of forest trees. This egg was about the size of a basketball, having a blue-colored shell with a yellow ring on the top and a black lower half._

_ How this egg came to be here is unknown, but what _is_ known about this Pokémon egg is that it is close to hatching._

_ The egg was faintly flashing a heavenly white light, a light bright enough to illuminate the dark forest floor within a 50 feet radius. The light dimmed after about five seconds, and then the light resumed, with far more potency in its brilliant white glow. The light faded away after a full ten seconds, and as if by sorcery, a Pokémon has swapped places with the egg. The hatched Pokémon was lying there asleep, curled up to keep warm and huddled up to the roots for comfort._

* * *

><p>(End of Xeno Lucario's Flashback)<p>

"(Oh…Arceus…)" Xeno grew wide-eyed at his spontaneous moment of low self-esteem and shook his head to remove such self-marring thoughts.

He quickly focused his thoughts on other events in his life, _critical_ events in his life, from past battles where he willingly gambled the safekeeping of his life, and came out victorious. Lucario remembered his past battles, ones with former enemies (Absol), ruthless crime lords (Giovanni), hostile Pokémon (Sceptile), and legendary deities (Dialga and Palkia).

"(How have I still survived to this day? All of those confrontations that I had could've brought me down to an early demise, and yet they haven't, and I survived a stronger Pokémon nevertheless.)"

Lucario pondered his reasons as to why he still breathes today. He quickly thought of plausible reasons that has aided in his overall wellbeing.

"(Is it because I have too much to live for, too much to do before I pass away?)"

Xeno felt as if he was on to something.

"(That's probably true, because there's still a list of goals that I need to accomplish. I have friends back on my home Earth that I wish to see again. I have a certain co-worker that I wish to locate, wherever it may be. I have a prophecy that—even with a lack of concrete detail—must be fulfilled. And finally, I have a certain _person_ that I wish to see crushed by my paws.)"

Nero felt as if he had given Lucario enough time to live and removed his sword from the furnace.

Much to his hopes, the blade was glowing crimson with extreme four-digit heat. He resisted the temptation to touch the blade for obvious reasons, and proceeded over to the Aura Pokémon.

Xeno quickly hears Nero approaching him and has his final thoughts on this subject.

"(Of course, to accomplish all of those goals, I have to survive this encounter.)" Lucario glared at Nero attentively, still feigning a stalwart emotional stature in order to not expose his weakness. "(What a shame then…that I can't do anything to save myself…)"

Nero stopped walking when he was within five feet of the Aura Pokémon, easily enough of a distance to lunge forward with his sword when the moment arrived.

However, it wouldn't be good sport if he didn't _savor_ this moment to its fullest.

"Did I ever tell you…how you came to me in the first place?" Nero began to talk to the Aura Pokémon with an unnerving smile.

Xeno had a strong hunch as to where this was going. He shook his head, and pondered "(No…but I know where this is going.)"

"Somehow, you turned up on the inside of my palace, unconscious and practically _gift_-wrapped to me by an anonymous source?"

"(Anonymous source...?)" Lucario couldn't wrap his head around the identity of that person.

"Now, while I have absolutely no idea who brought you here, I know well enough who _you_ are, and what you're quite capable of."

"…" Lucario listened attentively at where Nero was going with this.

"I know well enough, from Mars's martial experience with you, that you are Xeno Lucario, the mysterious Aura Pokémon."

"…" Lucario remained unmoved by Nero's realization of his identity. After all, he knew that he told Mars this information. And now he knows that Mars managed to pass it on to Nero.

Nero continued. "You are an enigmatic animal that is unexplainably capable of human speech _without_ so much as flapping your lips. You are in possession of _frightening_ abilities that, if provoked, can destroy entire legions without so much as batting an eye in remorse."

Lucario couldn't help but smile at this and chuckle a bit.

"_So all of this time,_" Lucario began to speak, for the first time amongst these people. "_I never needed to keep silent to such a _hopelessly_ primitive human race?_"

Nero's smile faded immediately after hearing Lucario's blunt remark. He quickly took the broad side of the blade of his Gladius and pressed it _firmly_ on the forehead and snout of the Aura Pokémon, causing a mild hissing noise from the sound of roasting hair and skin. Nero wished to brand some manners onto the Aura Pokémon, and kept his sword steady until that occurred.

However, all that he received was a _phenomenal_ display of tempered willpower. Xeno remained silent and absent-minded of the burning that his forehead and snout was enduring, not wanting to ease his steadfast façade for even a moment. He glared on at Nero, imagining him dead, to a degree rivaling that of which he wants Giovanni dead.

After five seconds of branding, Nero removed the sword from his enemy's face, noticing a blackened area on Lucario's forehead and snout where the blade touched flesh and fur.

Nero simply scoffed at this and resumed speaking. "Hmm… You remind me _heavily_ of Eduardo, and the two of you—whether your actions were intentional or not—have caused me and my nation nothing but problems during my attempts at expanding my territory."

The mere mentioning of the name "Eduardo" managed to partially resurface the vicious headache that Xeno sustained earlier. "(That name again…!)" Lucario's eyes sealed shut as the cerebral pain resurfaced once again, cringing before Nero and paying no attention to him whatsoever.

"In killing you, one of the two most publically _hated_ and formidable enemies of Rome, my place in history will be cemented for all of eternity."

Lucario simply groaned in pain at the headache's agonizing shackles that tightened its coils around his brain.

"I will be known in history as Nero, the fifth Roman Emperor who brought down one of the most mysterious and dangerous creatures on this planet."

* * *

><p><span>Location: Rome (City Limit)<span>

Time: 10:46 AM

Within the farthest corner of the Roman Capital, daily activity was as normal as it was in any other segment of Rome. Merchants were selling various different items of clothing, food, and jewelry, to those that desired them. Other people were passing the time conversing with one another, talking about their daily or personal lives.

_(Song Intensifies Bombastically)_

All of this natural commotion amongst Roman citizens was easily disturbed when I passed by overhead in the blink of an eye, which triggered an ear-splitting and building-shaking sonic boom that followed behind me.

My guess is that the sheer force of this snapping of air managed to cause the hearts of these people to skip a beat or two, as well as damage the ears of those who were directly beneath my flight path.

"(Good…)" is what I would think of with a scaly and toothy smile, if I wasn't so presently single-mindedly focused on finding Lucario.

With my drastically-heightened sense of vision—thankfully blessing _both_ of my eyes rather than just one—, I scanned a few miles (one minute) ahead of me, instantly eyeing the Empty Lot where Xeno Lucario was held as a captive prisoner to these people.

I could see the scene as if I was there first-hand. I could see a shackled Aura Pokémon, held under control by two Roman guards—likely because that was all the restraint necessary under his current condition—, with eight more surrounding Roman guards closely watching on within an imaginary octagon that their placement caused.

Directly in front of Xeno, I could see Nero within striking distance of him, armed with a Gladius sword that appeared heat-treated and intended for the killing of the Aura Pokémon.

Knowing now that the moment of truth was fast approaching, I began to slow down from Mach 3 and considered my options carefully on what to do to save Xeno, knowing that I would have to make a split-second decision.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Rome (Empty Lot)<span>

Time: 10:47 AM

"With my Gladius in hand, I will smite you where you stand. And in doing so, I will send your soul to a world where the heat of my sword vastly pales in comparison to."

Lucario remained silent throughout this small speech, struggling in vain against the overpowering restraint that was suppressing him and keeping him in place.

"Veni, Vidi, Vici…" Nero began. "Do you know what that means?"

Xeno, taking his mind off of an attempt to break free, simply looked back at Nero and shook his head. "_I don't speak Latin. I only know English…and I find myself bizarrely speaking Spanish when I'm hammered beyond rational thought._"

"Interesting…" Nero droned at the unnecessary extra information. "Well then, here's a language lesson for you, for your final seconds of life: 'Veni, Vidi, Vici' means 'I came, I saw, I conquered'…"

Nero gripped the handle of the sword tightly with both hands, and then stepped back with the sword drawn into his body, ready to lunge forward and impale him.

"…As in, I _came_ here, I _saw_ one of my enemies, and I _conquered_ over the control of its pitiful life in order to do away with as I wish!"

Nero, not wishing to prolong this anymore, lunged forward with his Gladius sword. He aimed the razor-sharp tip of the weapon directly at Lucario's jugular, wishing to sever it in two.

Much to his surprise, Xeno reflexively cringed, clenching and exposing his teeth, and closed his eyes in apprehension, not wanting to see the exact moment when his throat would be skewered and then notice his life depart from him as if it were his own breath. It didn't take much thought in his part to realize that he was about to die, and he was _genuinely_ terrified at the thought. He didn't know what would occur to him in the afterlife, what would become of his soul, as well as the close friends that he'd leave behind.

And because of that, mild xenophobia about post-death uncertainty caused him to whimper under his breath, which was faintly audible to Nero, albeit ignored.

_**STAB!**_

_(Song Ends with One Last Triumph)_

Lucario, feeling his heart actually skip a beat when the Gladius sword had infiltrated his throat, temporarily forgot to breathe. He found himself quickly having to hyperventilate because his heart-rate had spiked in intensity, which in turn was siphoning the oxygen from his lungs faster than he could supply them.

Once he had mollified his breathing, his eyelids immediately opened and his eyes widened when he realized something critical.

He was _breathing_ normally.

His eyes immediately looked as far down as they were able to, and he noticed that Nero's Gladius sword did in fact stab him in the throat, and was _completely_ soused in blood. However, only the tip of the blade _itself_ made contact with him, so the blood on the blade _wasn't_ his own. The end result of this merely led to a mild poke on the epidermal layer of skin on his neck, which didn't even draw his _own_ blood because his fur itself was in the way.

From Nero's perspective of this bladed attack, he knew that he penetrated a living being with his sword, clean through the entry wound and out the exit wound that the blade forcibly made with its momentum. However, a shocked countenance and a mild discoloration of his face suggested that he struck something else _entirely_.

…Something that entered at the last possible split-second.

Both he and Lucario—alongside the ten Roman guards that were present—had to look up to see just what was stabbed with the Gladius sword.

Me.

I stood tall, fifteen feet from foot to face, pure white in scaly hide, with my Light Green (Wind) Aura absent at my choice of action. I remained physically stable, my arms unperturbed at my side, my tail on the floor and coiled slightly, and my wings tucked behind my back when they were no longer used.

I placed myself facing Nero, with the sword that he lunged forward with successfully managing to pierce clean through my abdomen—due to my underbelly being a weak point of my overall hide—, stopping at the wider hilt when the rest of the blade buried itself within me. Because of this, I managed to only have the sword stick out from my back and harmlessly tap Xeno in the throat, rather than go right _through_ it as Nero intended.

A fair amount of blood ran down my abdominal penetration, but was significantly reduced by the blade filling up the gap that it formed, as well as heat of the Gladius _painfully_ cauterizing my internal injury. Instead, _much_ more blood could be seen hemorrhaging from my massive jaws. It stained my teeth sanguine and gave the surrounding people an unholy imagery when I chose to smile and chuckle malignantly in my earth-trembling dragon voice.

"(I can't believe…I only had enough time to do this,)" I pondered, feeling the full pain of the sword slicing through my abdominal cavity. "(If I had done anything else…I might've been too late.)"

"…" Nero, having to look directly upward at me, remained frozen in fright at the terrifying reptilian juggernaut that managed to get in his way. He never let go of his sword, mostly because the thought of doing so never occurred to him.

Looking down at this feeble human, I growled aggressively at him, pondering methods as to how to dispose of him. However, I managed to set that all aside for now and turned my massive head to the left, slowly and carefully considering my injury, choosing to see how Xeno was faring with my left eye.

Similarly to Nero, Lucario ogled me fearfully, and I could plainly imagine why.

The sight of a fifteen-foot-tall dragon, who endured a sword stab to the abdomen, who speaks in a voice that sounded as if Satan Himself had possession and personal use of my vocal chords, and who has a face that could make any person empty their bowels…

I'd be terrified _myself_ actually, if I had a mirror to look at myself with right now.

Thankfully, I had a surplus of heart and a steadfast attention of others to do this:

"**Are you alright…Xeno Lucario?**" I spoke with the gentlest possible tone of voice that I could muster, with this encumbrance of a hellish voice of mine.

Whatever fear that Xeno had over me was fading away faster than he imagined. He quickly understood the fact that I was here on his side and to physically protect him from an early demise, because if I wasn't here to protect him, then I wouldn't be present here at all. And if I wasn't here at all, the sword that was piercing through my abdomen _wouldn't_ have its tip on his jugular. It would instead sever clean through his neck.

"_Yes…I'm alright…_" He said, only slightly hesitant at responding back, likely because he was still intimidated by my stature and unsure as to why I'm here.

"**...Good…good…**" I smiled slightly and muttered before facing back and looking down at a shell-shocked Nero. "(Because you have no idea…how much this hurts right now.)"

"(What the hell just happened?!)" Nero pondered, frozen in place and still active of mind. "(I so much as lunge my sword forward and suddenly have this reptilian _beast_ appear out of nowhere to take the blow!)"

_**…hiss…**_

My eyes widened slightly when I heard that sound, because it related to a _form-specific_ draconic trait that I had briefly neglected, and now recalled instantly.

"(Oh right…)" I chuckled devilishly. "(My blood is _acidic_ in this state of body…)"

All three of us suddenly heard a slight hissing sound that mimicked the audible potency of an aggressive snake. I was fully aware of what this is and what this would spell to Nero's sword. However, both Xeno and Nero were unsure of this, and only locked their eyes at the source of this sound.

Before the eyes of the Aura Pokémon, he could see the Gladius sword that was penetrating me began to _melt_ away. The acidic blood that stained the sword sanguine began to eat away at the blade, starting with the tip of the sword and migrating downward towards the exit wound on my backside.

Upon seeing this, Xeno had this to ponder.

"(Acidic blood…)" he muttered mentally. "(How queer, and yet so resourceful…)"

The sword disappeared from his point of view once the sword began to melt away within my body, from the hemorrhaging that was occurring within me internally.

From Nero's point of view, he suddenly heard the hissing sound of deteriorating metal fast approaching him. He looked at his held Gladius and noticed how my entry wound that concealed his blade began to smolder and fume a noxious white smoke.

"(What in the…?)" Nero was quick to ponder before _removing_ the blade from my body.

My oversized, blood-soused teeth clenched mildly when Nero suddenly removed the blade from my abdomen. The pain that resulted from it was horrendous, but bearable to a powerhouse.

Before Nero's eyes—as well as those of his personal guards—, he noticed that the blood-soused Gladius was half-_eaten_ by my acidic blood, and dissolving at an alarmingly fast rate. Once the corrosion reached the hilt and came within _millimeters_ of Nero's hand, he immediately dropped the handle in fright, moments before the handle itself dissolved away into the sand, along with some of the sand itself. The end result created a small crater on the floor, fuming of white smoke, where his Gladius met its end.

I could hear a sufficient amount of astonished exclamations surrounding me. I paid no mind to them and focused my ash-black glare on Nero.

"Who…what the hell _are_ you?!" Nero looked upward to me and locked eyes with me, truly terrified of my stature.

His question guaranteed a straightforward answer from me, one with absolute assurance of my identity.

"**I am Eduardo.**"

The mere mention of that eminent name caused a further uproar of exclamation from my surrounding audience. Even Nero—and even _Xeno_—were greatly dumbfounded that I existed before them in this state of body.

Xeno Lucario, despite being taken aback at my new body, was surprised to find out that the headache that plagued him earlier—caused at the mere _mention_ of my name—no longer existed within his skull. With his ruby red eyes already locked onto me, he recalled what I looked like when we first met, and imagined that normal form of mine in place of my dragon form.

This mental juxtaposition was brief and allowed Lucario to reach this mental conclusion.

"(Perhaps this new body of his is easier for me to individualize...)" He figured for now.

"You're…Eduardo?! That's impossible!" Nero shouted at me with uncertainty. "You don't possess the ability to _become_ this!"

"…" I didn't so much as say anything in response to this. I simply crossed my massive arms and looked at him with a serious glare, waiting for him to remove this immaterial doubt.

"…Mother of Jupiter…" Nero understood my serious posture at once, and spoke at me with severe incredulity. "When did you acquire the ability to _become_ this?!"

I didn't feel like keeping anything secret from him, so I uncrossed my massive, scaled arms and responded immediately to Nero with this:

"**…I **_**genuinely**_** have no idea.**" My voice trembled before the earth. "**For all that I know, I've had these abilities of mine locked away within me, waiting to be unlocked under critical circumstances.**"

"…" Nero looked at me with a hollow countenance, his neurons detonating individually within his mind from the sheer improbability that he comprehended from what I've said.

"…" Xeno on the other hand, simply tilted his head slightly to his right side, apparently smarter than Nero and having an easier time dissecting what I've said as an unlikely truth, and yet still having his doubts over it.

Nero eventually had enough of this and changed the topic, as well as his disposition.

"Do you have _any_ idea how disastrous your actions have been to my nation?!" Nero decided to blow his fuse at me. "Do you have any idea how many _thousands_ of people you've single-handedly killed from our armies?! And do you have any idea how badly you've compromised our intentions of global expansion?!"

"**I have a clear understanding of my choice of actions towards your nation. I'm well aware of what I choose to do in response to you and your leadership.**" I responded to his spite with nonchalance. "**And I will have you know that you had this dilemma brought upon yourself and Rome.**"

"…" Nero listened on, knowing that it was vitally important from his rank as Emperor to understand my logic in actions towards his empire.

Lucario did so as well, to better understand the type of person that I am.

"**Your civilization **_**murdered**_** my parents fourteen years ago, when I had just hit the age of thirteen. The death of my parents under the merciless iron fist of Rome **_**alone**_** cemented my eternal hatred towards your race!**"

My spite gradually transferred over to my speech, amplifying the diabolicalness of my tone of voice. To all those that were listening, they had difficulty in keeping their knees from clattering against each other.

"**And three years later, your civilization had the **_**audacity**_** to visit my home village,**" my right clawed hand trailed off to my strapped S1-GS device on my right side, "**desire my S1-GS device, crucify my brothers and me onto a wooden post, and lay martial waste to the village and its citizens!**"

"…" Nero, Xeno Lucario, and all ten of the Roman guards present on this Empty Lot listened closely, hearing genuine words—_heavy_ words—that came from the core of my massive, beating heart.

"**If it wasn't for my inner strength unlocking from myself and **_**erupting**_** forth under such a critical situation, my village would just be another brittle obstacle for your armies to overcome and conquer. Instead, I put you all—aside from your garrulous General Mercury, or should I say Prattlecus—in your **_**proper**_** place that faithful day, on May 2****nd****, 49 A.D., where 999 soldiers became roasted chum for the sharks that inhabited the Red Sea.**"

"…"Nero recalled these events mentioned by Mercury to the emperor before him—Claudius—from a mission document that he examined before taking this position. However, with the_ source_ of those events present before him, there was far more _emotion_ reinforcing those past documents, as well as opinion.

I had to hunch over to his level of height to get my face parallel with his, and had my massive head approaching within inches of his. Nero stepped back slightly, enough in case he felt as if I would shove him off of his feet. He never lost eye contact with me, and neither did I.

"**Did you not **_**think**_** that there would be consequences to your actions?! Did you not **_**think**_** that I would have it in my better judgment to **_**defend**_** people that I love, people that **_**desire**_** to remain free, against hostile people such as **_**yourself**_**?!**"

Lucario, taking my words into full account and recalling what both Costas and Ian mentioned about me before, had this to ponder:

"(He fights…for the safety of those that he cares deeply for…)"

Nero, having to inhale deeply and a few times, in order to overcome the fear that my voice ingrained within him, responded back.

"Well…regardless of our different opinions in our martial standings, one factor remains clear about Rome, and about me."

Nero tilted his face closer to mine, practically placing his forehead vindictively on mine in the process.

"As Emperor of Rome, I will see to it that my empire continues to expand as our greatness spreads over the planet." Nero briefly looked to his left side, over to Lucario, and locked eyes briefly to him.

Lucario noticed this, tilted his head further to the right, and did the same.

Nero disengaged his glare and focused it back onto me. "I will see to it that you—and your bipedal _bitch_ of a pet—meet a slow and painful death when we continue to expand our territory and _overlap_ our world over yours!"

I no longer saw the need of lowering my stature down to his level of ineptitude and tilted my body back upright. When I did so, my head and my eyes still remained firm on him, with a face that now expressed mild spite.

"**Tell it to someone…**" I said before I held up a coiled hand towards his face.

Nero's head tilted back slightly at how close I put my claws near his face. His eyes were forcibly locked onto my hand.

"**…whose parents you've yet to kill.**"

A split second after my last word, I flicked my middle finger across the surface of his forehead. In doing so, because of the _massive_ strength that this body possessed, I managed to knock Nero back about ten feet and onto his back. The Roman Emperor was quickly knocked unconscious by this blunt force, and his forehead was bleeding somewhat by my nail scratching the surface of his skin.

Unsurprisingly, the ten Roman guards surrounding us _weren't_ going to let me get away with that. They all decided to unsheathe their swords and rush towards the two of us, even the two Roman guards that were _originally_ keeping Xeno restrained.

Lucario, his arms chained but no longer restrained upward, fell back down and level to his body. Unfortunately, because they were held upward for an extended amount of time, his shoulders grew _viciously_ sore from lack of use and lack of proper blood circulation, making his arms useless for the time being.

Not like it matters much, because he is _still_ lacking in strength from earlier fatigue.

"_Eduardo?_" He stayed close to my winged, crested back, looking around himself to notice that we were surrounded. "_I hope you have something in your repertoire against this!_"

"**I always do. Just be sure to brace yourself**," I face the Aura Pokémon by my backside and assure him.

Xeno nods at what I say and gives me a faint smile.

I manage to do the same thing in response before I face the charging Roman guard directly in front of me. I locked eyes with this brave, but foolish man and formed a defensive stance. I inhaled once and focused my inner aura to a heightened quantity. The end result allowed me to emanate White (Light) Aura to a higher degree, in an aura field wide enough to cause Lucario to step back in wide-eyed surprise.

"_What in the…?_"

"**Get down, Xeno!**" I suddenly roared at him with urgency, my aura practically flaring at the rumbling of my voice.

Lucario didn't have a second thought in my words, and immediately obeyed my command without questioning it. He dropped down onto the grainy floor and made himself perfectly parallel to the floor, even resorting to bending his ears and tail as low to the floor as he physically could. In this undeniably prone posture, I couldn't so much as kick at him or swipe my tail horizontally at him either.

This was my intention, for I didn't want to strike at him inadvertently.

Faster than I thought possible with this massive body of mine, I twisted my entirety to face all directions around me, all ten of the Roman guards surrounding me. I simply extended both arms and pointed one clawed finger at each oncoming sentinel, ten claws for ten people, one claw respective to each incoming "threat", all in only a few seconds time.

With this sway of movements done, my White (Light) Aura dissipated _almost_ completely from my body, leaving me physically relaxed, standing and stagnant after my "martial" actions have ended. All that remained of my White (Light) Aura were ten individual glimmers of light on the tips of each of my razor-sharp claws, each of them serving a purpose other than something similar to nail polish.

I inhaled once, briefly held in my breath, and exhaled with a very mind rumble in my voice. After clearing my mind for a few seconds, I looked down at a grounded Aura Pokémon, who never budged an inch after my command, whose face was on the floor below.

I decided to break his inactivity.

"**Alright…**" I spoke with welcoming warmth. "**…you can rise now.**"

Lucario, upon hearing my words, stood back upright and brushed off the earthly debris that clung onto his fur. He quickly looked at everything around himself, and was absolutely speechless at the present state of all ten Roman guards.

Each and every failed assailant remained encapsulated and imprisoned within a levitating sphere of white light. From within their hovering cages of luminosity, they all struggled to break free of this puzzling phenomenon that I set up. However, their efforts were in vain and hopelessly pointless. These spheres were resilient enough to contain everything essence of them—their mass, their shouting, their struggling.

"**I'm not done yet.**" I told Xeno, who faced me upon hearing me speak to him. "**All that I have left to do to them is **_**end**_** them.**"

I lifted up my arms and held open my hands before my torso and before Lucario's eyes, each nail that I had glimmering with White (Light) Aura that kept these spheres in existence.

"(_Luster Sphere Bomb_,)" I pondered before rolling my thumbs over each of my fingers in tandem, snapping my fingers and breaking the glimmers of light on my claws in the process.

The instance that I broke all ten lights on my fingertips, all ten of the brilliant and pallid spheres suddenly emanated enough light to blind the entire area, causing all within the Empty Lot to be shrouded in a blinding blanket of white illumination.

Xeno's eyelids instinctively shut tight to protect his eyes from the sudden bright flash. He opened his eyes seconds after when the glow of my technique faded away from existence. He immediately scanned the area where the Roman guards were, only to find _zero trace_ of them whatsoever.

Since his aura potency hasn't recovered yet, he is unable to use his Aura Vision ability to see at a deeper level at his surroundings. Instead, as a fitting substitute, he asked me a question.

"_What did you just do?_" He said with a tone of curiosity and disbelief.

"**I vaporized their totality to nothingness with magnified light.**"

* * *

><p><em><span>23.6: Mysteriously Unique<span>_

Time: 11:02 AM

Xeno Lucario was just completely astonished at the power that I possessed. From my perspective, he didn't seem to care if I took full notice of his facial expression or not. He simply stared on at his savior, curious and pondering just what else I was capable of.

Looking down at the Aura Pokémon, I quickly took notice of the chains that were tightly coiled around Lucario's wrists. I took it upon myself to reach for both of his arms, stick a nail underneath what little space I could between the metal and his fur, and break off his shackles with surprising ease. The broken metal merely dropped down to the earth, the chains jingling against each other as they coiled onto the floor.

Lucario rubbed the soreness off of both of his wrists with his paws. "_Thank you, Eduardo…for saving my life._" He said with absolute sincerity in his telepathy.

"**Your welcome, Xeno Lu—(*Cough*)**"

All of a sudden, I felt an undeniably irritating sensation originate from within my throat, which caused me to spontaneously start coughing hoarsely and loudly. Thankfully, I had it in myself to face away from the Aura Pokémon a split second before this happened.

That choice seemed awfully wise in my part, especially because I spat fresh acidic blood onto the sandy floor with each individual cough.

Once I stopped coughing, Lucario looked at the floor where my blood flew down onto. The blood splatter that painted the dirty floor quickly acidified the area that they coated and burned away with some of the floor, leaving a noxious white smoke as the byproduct.

His eyes trailed back onto my mouth, where he noticed that fresh blood overlapped the layer of coagulated blood that was present on my teeth and lower jaw, from the stab wound that I endured earlier. After that, his eyes descended slightly south, where he ogled the stab would itself. He quickly perceived that my abdominal would hadn't healed and sealed yet from both the inside _and_ outside, and was managing to elevate upward from its gastrointestinal point of origin, and escape from my massive maw—and simultaneously from my stab wound—in the form of violent coughs.

"_Are you alright?_" He asked me with elevated concern.

"**I'm fine,**" I say with my body hunched over somewhat and my head dropped, with blood dripping off of the tips of my teeth and onto the floor, where they sizzled and dissolved away. "**I've endured an injury—(*cough*)—similar to this before, from a ballista round. I just have to heal myself—(*cough**cough*)—with my innate abilities, and then I'll be perfectly al—**"

"_May I heal you?_" Lucario offered his aid for my injury.

"**…Excuse me?**"

"_May I heal you, please?_" He repeated himself, to make sure I understood his desire to support me. "_It's the least that I can do for you._"

It would be awfully rude in my part to refuse his act of repayment, so I found myself saying "**Of course**" open-heartedly.

"_Alright then,_" He says just before he reached his left paw over to my abdominal wound.

The instance that I saw Xeno's action, I backed away slightly, almost automatically when I knew what he intended to do just now.

"**Be careful, my blood is acidic in this form, remember?**"

Lucario simply rolled his eyes at this. "_Yes, I know,_" he muttered before reaching forward anyway, and placing his paw directly onto my wound, apparently absent-minded at my draconic trait.

I almost came to the point of shoving Lucario away for his general safety. However, I stopped myself from doing so when I noticed a critical detail on Lucario's paw.

Even though Lucario's left paw was _clearly_ making contact with my blood, it wasn't deteriorating _at all_.

He concentrated much harder than normal with what little energy he could possibly muster at this moment, and decided to resort to his HEAL PULSE technique to heal me. He had his left paw emanate a pleasant pink aura, and his technique of choice quickly went to work on my injury. I could feel its beneficial effects causing the pain in my abdomen—as well as the crude slit that Nero's Gladius sword left within and _through_ me—to disappear gradually.

"**My blood… How is it **_**not **_**corroding you away?**" I questioned him.

"_It's because of my Steel-Type attribute._" He began to explain, his eyes locked onto my injury and his concentration unfaltering as he continued. "_Steel-Type Pokémon have an unyielding immunity to Poison-Type techniques and abilities. I simply assumed that your blood matched these conditions of the Poison-Type attribute, and nothing else._"

"**…I have so much to learn about you and your world's workings.**" I stated flat-out and honestly.

"_As do I,_" He said, feeling the exact same way.

A few more seconds passed before Xeno could no longer concentrate on keeping HEAL PULSE active, with what little aura he had recovered at the moment. Thankfully, he had healed the great majority of my injury, sealing the wound from the entry point, from inside and out the back. The remaining injury was reduced to mild internal bruising, which would disappear in a few days without much lingering thought in my part.

I palpated the scar and coagulated blood that remained from my healed wound, impressed at his ability to mend an injury, despite his diminished strength. "**Thank you, Xeno.**"

Lucario, fatigued after spending what little strength he recovered, panted slightly and smiled at me in the process. "_You're welcome._"

My eyes quickly took notice of his forehead and snout, which appeared much blacker than what I recalled from recent memories of him.

"**Did you get burned?**"

Lucario stopped panting and widened his eyes when he recalled Nero's _only_ significant injury placed on him. His paw was placed on his forehead and was shuffled between that and the tip of his nose. He felt sharp, stinging pain from the tender burns that Nero inflicted on him, but made little facial expression in showing it.

"_Yes,_" he admitted to me. "_Nero is to blame for this._"

I looked over my shoulder at the emperor that I _personally_ gave my middle finger to earlier. I noticed that Nero was still unconscious and bleeding slightly from his forehead. I disregarded him because I knew he was no longer a threat at the moment, and focused my attention back to Xeno.

When I did so, I noticed the paw that Lucario placed on his forehead flash and fade in white light, his struggling attempts to focus and utilize RECOVER with fragments of unworkable strength.

I had a surplus of compassion to pluck his paw off of his forehead, and substitute my right hand in place of his own. My claws never touched his face, thankfully because they were too long to do so and I didn't want to _grip_ his head. I simply felt like placing a hand on his head, and offering _my_ help.

"**You're still recovering from your earlier ordeals.**" I mentioned. "**Let me heal you instead.**"

Lucario really couldn't argue with my logic and simply nodded in favor, with my hand shaking slightly from his head movement.

"**Alright then,**" I repeated Lucario's earlier words and had my right hand exclusively emanate Green (Healing) Aura.

Lucario, just like with my injury, could feel stinging burns disappear with remarkable speed. And because I still had plenty of strength to burn, I didn't hold anything back with my recovery abilities. The burn that Lucario had was replaced by a pleasant feeling of healing skin within seconds. I disconnected my Elemental Aura ability when its use was completed after about ten seconds, and simply brushed off charred flakes of ash from Lucario's fur with my thumb before removing my hand from his forehead altogether.

"**Thanks really aren't necessary anymore,**" I said. "**We're both thankful enough that you're still breathing.**"

Xeno nodded in agreement with me again, and decided to change the topic.

"_Back when you told Nero that this form remained dormant within you, we're you speaking truthfully?_"

"**Absolutely,**" I confirmed.

"_When did you become this dragon?_" Lucario said out of genuine curiosity, never seeing _this_ side of me when we first met.

"**To be honest, about an hour ago,**" I admitted, "**because this draconic state of body was **_**decisive**_** in your survival today.**"

Lucario raised an eyebrow and tilted his head at me in confusion, unsure what I actually meant until I finished explaining my side of this story.

"**When I learned of your location with my technology in hand, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to reach you in the timeframe given.**"

He felt his heart sink slightly when he heard that I might _not_ have been able to reach him and save his life.

"**No vehicle that I possessed would take me over here quickly enough, and no ability currently in my repertoire would do the same.**"

"_…So how did you come to my rescue?_" Xeno spoke with a mild tone that almost made him _regret_ asking me.

"**I reluctantly gambled on the idea that I could access this form hidden away within myself. And if I was successful, I **_**might**_** fly over to you at supersonic speeds, with my innate abilities coursing through **_**this**_** body, and save you from an early death.**"

"…" Lucario was silent, and listened on.

"**I will assure you that** **I'm not a risk-taker, but an adapter instead, because I have both the intellect and the versatility to support it. So, because of that, I decided to access an ability of mine that I didn't fully understand and **_**utilize**_** yet, make the most of it in the constricted time that I had, and thankfully managed to arrive here in the split-second where you're life hung in the balance, where I found myself taking Nero's sword in your place.**"

"…" the Aura Pokémon still remained silent, analyzing my words once I had stopped talking. He looked down slightly and pondered deeply.

I waited patiently to hear his response to this.

"_…Even though I didn't know that my overall survival was decided by chance,_" He began. "_I'm just thankful that everything worked out for the better._"

A small smile formed on my face when I knew he accepted this truth.

Xeno looked back at me and smiled as well. "_You mastered the ability to transmogrify into this _intimidating_ beast, and successfully utilized it to selflessly protect me from an untimely death._"

I nodded my head slightly at his statement, and then looked around my location, taking where we were into full account.

"**Let's get the hell out of here.**" I strongly suggested. "**Both Costas and Ian are likely worried about you. I promised them that I'd bring you back.**"

Lucario nodded in agreement, having had enough of Rome today.

"**Also, the longer I'm here, the more I can feel my **_**hate**_** over this nation flare within me.**"

"_My thoughts exactly,_" Lucario added. "_After my 'welcoming treatment' here, I can't wait to leave this dump._"

"**Hop on my back, and I'll make sure we're over Rome's horizon faster than you can say 'Nero is a Zero'.**"

"_'Zero' isn't the word I had in mind to describe him,_" He admitted. "_But If I said _that_ in place of 'Zero', then it wouldn't rhyme._"

Xeno Lucario, as though he was timed to leave this place, quickly hopped onto my back and clung onto me as if he were a magnet. He had himself placed directly on my shoulders, directly between where the bases of my massive wings were. He configured himself so that his stout legs were dangling over my shoulders and partially within my field of vision, his furry rear end seated between my wings and directly onto my spine, and his lean arms coiled around my neck, so that he wouldn't fall off when I took off.

Once I could feel him properly secured onto me, I quickly squatted down and jumped high with my powerful leg muscles. Once airborne, my wings took over and flapped rapidly and stalwartly to keep me airborne, each flap kicking up tremendous amounts of dust that temporarily blinded the area below.

In only a few seconds, I reached a few hundred feet in height and took off in the opposite direction of arriving here.

Once the wind beneath my wings no longer kicked up dust around the Empty Lot, the tellurian powder settled back down onto the floor, and over Nero's recumbent body.

Some of this granular debris managed to become _inhaled_ by Nero, as it was settling back down to earth. And once the dust invaded Nero's airways, his upper body sprang upward from sudden bronchial invasion, and he began to cough heavily to eliminate the dust from the blebs within his lungs.

His coughing episode was brief and stopped after a few seconds. Afterwards, he got back up on his feet, and felt a warm sensation emanate from his forehead, and dribble down across his face.

He rubbed his hand across his forehead and cringed slightly when he felt the open gash that I left on him with a simple flick of my middle finger on him. He brought his hand in front of his eyes, and could plainly see that his hand was painted red by his own blood. His hand curled up into a fist before his eyes, and shook with frustration.

"…That cold-blooded bastard!" His teeth gritted as he began to recall very bitter and very _brief_ memories of what I did to him. "He knocked me unconscious and spilled blood from me! He spilled _royal_ _blood_ from me!"

Nero then recalled his select Roman personnel and looked around the area to see where they were. He was quick to understand that they were nowhere to be seen, as if they disappeared without a trace.

"…And then he _annihilated_ my personal guards without so much as leaving a drop of their blood!"

Out of great spite, he looked at the sky all around him, attempting to see if he could still catch a sight of me. Much to his fading luck, he manages to catch a brief glimpse of us as we were flying over the horizon, just barely able to make out our distinct figures over the great distance.

"And to top it off, he took that bipedal, son of an _actual_ bitch with him as well!"

Nero, unable to catch up to Xeno and I, even if his present profession depended on it, simply accepted his losses for today and sat down on the same area of floor where he stood back up from. He contemplated this situation to the best of his ability and pondered any possible connections between the Aura Pokémon and me.

"Eduardo… He _obviously_ came to the aid of this 'Pokémon' creature." Nero began to analyze. "But, for what reasons _exactly_, I can only speculate."

Nero pondered to the best of his ability, with what little he knows about the exact characteristics between both Xeno and I.

"I suppose that the only thing I can do is assume that they're both connected in some way, regardless of how long they've known each other for."

The idea that the both of us were connected caused him to ponder how he could apply that to his desire for our downfall.

"And if that's the case, it'd be more desirable to eradicate them _simultaneously_ rather than individually, for the better future of my empire."

He placed a hand over his chin and contemplated this monumental task at hand.

"If only I knew how to match their might…" He droned before immersing his mind on a shallow topic.

As Nero pondered ideas as to how to match the herculean power of both Lucario and I, he never noticed that he was being watched by the hooded figure, which presently stood directly _behind_ Nero and about fifty feet away from him. His entrance to this place—a sable rift in space—was made under Nero's sense of hearing.

The hooded figure appeared behind Nero without his hood on, his face exposed, and therefore his emotions as well. He was presently grinning maliciously, after having listened earlier to Nero's desires over the downfall of Rome's two most dangerous enemies.

He had what Nero wanted, a tactic to defeat both Xeno and I, and he was quite willing to pass this on to the Roman Emperor before him. He reapplied his hood and proceeded over to Nero, shrouded in mystery and in surplus of cunning.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Mediterranean Sea<span>

Time: 11:24 AM

The return trip home was far more enjoyable than the arriving trip earlier, when I crossed over the Mediterranean Sea. For starters, I didn't fly over earlier to merely enjoy the scenery. I flew over because the life of someone that I cared about was in jeopardy, and I found myself forced to fly over this monumental body of water at _Mach 3_ in order to reach him in time.

But now that Xeno Lucario was spared an unfortunate end—because I intervened at the last possible split-second of his judgment—and was properly fastened and riding on my back, I felt relaxed enough to simply cruise over this body of water at a lackadaisical 100 mph.

The both of us took a few moments of our time in silence, enjoying the simple, yet beautiful scenery that completely surrounded us. We could feel the wind transcending over our bodies—Lucario more than I because of his fur coat and present surface area—from my flight pattern. We both noticed the clear cerulean sea below us, the undersea fauna that was in abundance here in the Mediterranean Sea, even at surface level, as well as the trail of water that I disturbed from my momentum. Finally, we gazed at the massive wall of cumulus clouds that collected themselves over the horizon and formed directly above this body of water.

Setting aside the wind that whistled into his ears and treated his dreadlock-like appendages as if they were wind chimes within a hurricane, Xeno still felt thankful that I came to his rescue. However, he knew that any more thanks would be unnecessary.

So instead, he decided to break this tranquil silence by entering a different topic.

"_Eduardo, may I ask you a question?_"

"**Hmm?**" I heard him and paid attention to what might follow.

"_That technique that you utilized on those Roman_ _sentries…_" He began. "_What in the world was that?_"

Within my head, I recalled the technique that Lucario observed me perform.

* * *

><p>(My Flashback)<p>

_ I lifted up my arms and held open my hands before my torso and before Lucario's eyes, each nail that I had glimmering with __White (Light) Aura__ that kept these spheres in existence._

_ "(_Luster Sphere Bomb_,)" I pondered before rolling my thumbs over each of my fingers in tandem, snapping my fingers and breaking the glimmers of light on my claws in the process._

_ The instance that I broke all ten lights on my fingertips, all ten of the brilliant and pallid spheres suddenly emanated enough light to blind the entire area, causing all within the Empty Lot to be shrouded in a blinding blanket of white illumination._

_ Xeno's eyelids instinctively shut tight to protect his eyes from the sudden bright flash. He opened his eyes seconds after when the glow of my technique faded away from existence. He immediately scanned the area where the Roman guards were, only to find _zero trace_ of them whatsoever._

* * *

><p>(End of My Flashback)<p>

After replaying my actions within my mind, I rotated my head over to him, enough so that one of my eyes managed to detect him. "**That technique was an Elemental Aura ability, one of many within my expanding repertoire of supernatural traits.**"

That answer just led to another question from the Aura Pokémon.

"_What is 'Elemental Aura'?_" He asked me with a puzzled glare.

I found myself looking back ahead, facially frozen and having sharp, shifting eyes in the process. No one has ever asked me this question before, not even my two brothers, whom observed these abilities firsthand and learned of my martial and supportive potential through various conflicts. Perhaps they picked up enough of what I was capable of doing, and decided that questions were unnecessary, when demonstrations were in supply.

Thankfully, I knew Elemental Aura like the technology of my "S-Rank" devices, and I found myself quick in thinking of a proper answer to say.

"**Elemental Aura…is a self-named ability that remained dormant within my unconscious psyche.**" I began to explain. "**It awakened and surfaced to my consciousness during a critical moment of my life.**"

"_During Mercury's invasion of your home village,_" Lucario recalled this informative tidbit from Ian's explanation of me after his victory over Mars.

"**Yes, that. Anyway,**" I resumed, "**It's an ability that I've honed since that faithful event over a decade ago. My initial range with these abilities only encompassed six attributes back when I first utilized them—Fire, Melee, Lightning, Healing, Water, and Psychic. However, with further experience, I managed to double my scale of attributes—Wind, Nature, Ice, Earth, Light, and Darkness.**"

Xeno Lucario listened attentively throughout my short, but definite explanation.

"**The color of my aura represents which attribute I'm presently in control of, hence the name 'Elemental Aura' that I gave this phenomenon. With experience that I cumulatively acquire, I'm able to broaden my range of techniques that I can perform and evolve the potential of my capabilities. Because of this, each attribute that I've gained mastery over is constantly growing in quality of power and quantity of** **procedures.**"

"_Interesting…_" He mumbled with telepathy. "_How second nature is 'Elemental Aura' to you?_"

Again, I was told a question that no one else has asked me before. However, I didn't seem as frozen as before when he asked me what Elemental Aura is. I simply responded to his question with an answer that came naturally to me.

"**Second nature…?**" I began. "**No, **_**first **_**nature is how I would describe Elemental Aura fitting with me.**"

"_What do you mean by that?_"

"**Ever since I first realized I was capable of…**" I held my hand in front of my face and had it emanate three different Elemental Aura abilities in tandem before me, beginning with Red (Fire) Aura, then to Yellow (Lightning) Aura, and ending in Light Blue (Ice) Aura. In doing so, my hand blazed in fire, then crackled with static electricity, and finally froze the air vapor around it, before doing nothing else when I decided to stop. "**…performing such impossible feats, one critical fact has always been in play with me, and has never made itself vanish.**"

"_And what would that be?_"

I looked back at the Aura Pokémon. "**Ease of access.**"

Lucario simply gave me another puzzled look, unsure of what I meant by this.

I looked ahead at my direction of flight once more. "**I've **_**never**_** had any decisive difficulty in wielding these abilities whatsoever, whether training in perfecting and evolving them, utilizing them to aid me in helpful tasks, or when slaughtering enemies during combat.**"

"_Perhaps you're simply a natural in these abilities of yours._" Lucario speculated.

I shook my head at his answer, knowing that it was incorrect from my perspective. "**If I was more accepting of how I function, then I would've settled on that conclusion years ago. However, I've never accepted that because I feel as though there's something…**_**abnormal**_** about these abilities that I wield. Or perhaps, it's greater than that, and it's something abnormal about **_**all**_** of the abilities that I wield.**"

"_Such as…?_" Lucario waited for my response.

"**I have this…nagging, lingering feeling that I've utilized these abilities before, sometime and somewhere ago.**" I admitted. "**I feel as though I've sealed these Elemental Aura abilities deep within me, and not **_**just**_** Elemental Aura, but my capability of transforming into **_**this**_** as well, and whatever else I might have buried deep within me. Because of that, I've never had an incidence where my powers were out of my control or difficult to master.**"

Xeno Lucario, as he was already doing so before, listened attentively in order to learn more about me.

"**With more experience in these abilities of mine, I feel as though I'm regaining lost pieces of myself, and becoming further and further whole.**"

"_And you are certain of this?_"

"**Before today, this idea was simply a pestering feeling that nibbled away within the confines of my thoughts.**" I continued. "**But now, when I mastered the use of this dragon body that I previously didn't know I could become, that opinion that I used to have is now a fact that I've cemented into myself.**"

"_I see…_"

I felt as though I've said as much as I needed to about my inner strength, and decided to change the topic.

"**You know, I first decided to locate you after what I've heard my brothers say about you.**" I said. "**They told me that you possess abilities similar to my own, and I thought that you might hold some answers that I seek.**"

"_I would figure as much, but you'll find no such luck with me._" Lucario admitted. "_We both wield aura as an extension of ourselves, but that alone is merely coincidental. The _method_ by which our strength is expressed is different. I wield aura as an extension of my strength, as is the case with my native species of Pokémon. You wield aura as a method to control core elements and attributes, something that is yours, and as far as I know, yours _alone_._"

"**I know,**" I understood. "**I came to realize that when I looked deep within myself before saving you. I understand that you don't hold the answers that I seek, and that I should look elsewhere.**"

"_Where will you begin?_"

"**I don't know.**" I sighed. "**All I know is that I've had these abilities of mine locked away within me. They've remained dormant and, until I turned sixteen years of age and protected my home, completely out of my realm of understanding. And because of that, the question I must ask myself is this: When and why did I seal away my abilities? Because, as it turns out, I have no memory whatsoever of sealing my abilities away, even though I now know that I was the one who did so. All I need to know is the reasoning behind it.**"

"_That will be difficult for you, because you're the only one in that position of problem._" He realized.

"**(*Sigh*) I know…**" I groaned over the daunting task that I had in hand. "**It's yet another question to add to my mental list…**"

Lucario hummed in monotone at this, and then decided that it was his turn to change the subject.

"_My first reason in locating you was because Costas and Ian strongly believed that you are the only person alive who can help me return home._"

"**Really?**" I responded. "**Sadly, you'll find no luck with me either. Multi-dimensional travel is, at the moment, a complete enigma from my knowledge. I've never even consider the possibility that more than one dimension exists until I first heard about your point of origin.**"

"_Oh…I see…_" Lucario spoke with great despondency.

The tone of Lucario's telepathic voice caused me to look back at him with concern.

"**I never said that this is out of my realm of understanding.**" I assured him. "**I will make it a goal of mine to see to it that I help you in your cause, especially since the information of your world that I downloaded from your helmet is far too great for me to simply ignore.**"

Xeno didn't seem to respond to the fact that I hacked into his helmet's databanks. After all, he knew he did so when he stole this same digital information from Giovanni's files.

I looked back in front of me again. "**I only ask for your patience, and the rest is simply in my hands.**"

"_Okay then,_" Lucario said with rekindled hopes.

_Eternal Moments/Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days OST/Yoko Shimomura & Takeharu Ishimoto_

_(Song Begins)_

Xeno allowed a few minutes of silence and admiration of the scenery go by before resuming our earlier conversation.

"_About earlier…when I raked your face with my sharp claws…_"

I listened to what he had to say, having a strong suspicion where this was heading.

"_I was dealing with some mental confusion during that moment…"_ He confessed with solemn feelings, _"…and I've realized that my earlier action towards you was out of a phenomenal fallacy. I don't want to hold any negative feelings between us, so—_"

"**Apology accepted,**" I cut him short. "**I've endured harsher blows anyway. Your sucker swipe was nothing more than a scratch on my body, compared to the severe injuries that I've sustained in the past.**"

"…_Uh_…" Lucario didn't expect me to apologize so easily to him.

"**Besides, I was never spiteful over your sudden attack, even if I tried to hold a grudge over it,**" I continued. "**If I was, then I would've likely **_**not**_** come to your aid, and you wouldn't be on my back right now. You would be a dead body, dissected and harvested for Nero's personal use, in the name of fashion and money.**"

"…" Xeno stayed silent when he realized my apparent lack of vengeance over him, as well as my dark speculation on an alternate outcome of him.

"**If anything, I'm more confused as to **_**why**_** you attacked me,**" I mentioned. "**And with what you just said earlier about 'dealing with some mental confusion', I now know the plain reason why.**"

"_I see then…_" Xeno understood. "_Well, the mental confusion that I had was great enough to _literally_ gnaw at my mind._"

"**That would explain your headache,**" I quickly added.

"_Yes, that. Anyway, it's cleared up now, after I've realized something important, something that you, of all people, should know._" He said. "_Would you like to know what it is?_"

"**…No, not just yet,**" I let him know. "**Let's** **save that topic for when we regroup with Costas and Ian.**"

"_Are you sure?_" He insisted. "_What I want to tell you—what I _must_ tell you—will leave you just as discombobulated as I was._"

"**I'm sure.**" I stayed firm. "**After all, I prolonged my realization of your existence when I did this same thing to my brothers.**"

Lucario shrugged his shoulders unnecessarily—because I wasn't watching—and looked over his left side with dropped eyes. "_Suit yourself._"

About ten seconds went by before I recalled something that the both of us should probably do.

"**You know, we never properly **_**introduced**_** ourselves.**" I stated, before looking over to him once more. "**Would you like to do the honors?**"

Lucario smiled at this, and said "_I am Xeno Lucario, Aura Pokémon of Prophecy_" with tangible authority in his title.

I followed suit.

"**I am Eduardo, Man of Bulwark.**"

We both smile and even _chuckle_ at our forming friendship, as well as the titles we chose for ourselves. However, when I noticed Lucario's ears drop, his eyes widen, and his posture shift back slightly, I stopped laughing because I sounded unnaturally maniacal and was starting to intimidate him.

I looked back ahead with shifting eyes, "…**Sorry about that.**"

"_It's alright,_" He forgave me.

About ten _more_ seconds went by before I brought up a different topic.

"**How fast have you ever flown before?**"

Lucario took a few moments to think about that.

"_On my own as of now, I have trouble reaching _this_ speed._" He began. "_But when I rode on the back of Latios, it felt as though we were flying at a speed a few times faster than what I can muster._"

"**So, simply put…**" I responded, "**…you flew at half the speed of sound.**"

"_Yes,_" He confirmed my response.

"**Has Latios ever broken the sound barrier?**"

"_If it has, then it wasn't when I was riding on its back._" Xeno said, before he realized where I might be going with this. "_Are you capable of that?_"

"**I flew over to you at Mach 3.**" I said. "**I'm considering Mach flight to return to my brothers. They're likely worried sick about the both of us, you especially.**"

I faced the Aura Pokémon of Prophecy yet again, and continued.

"**Would you like me to fly at Mach 3?**"

The inner speed-freak within Lucario surfaced somewhat upon hearing what the Man of Bulwark said.

"_Yeah, why not,_" He agreed. "_But…won't the wind resistance at that speed knock me off of you?_"

"**Not if you hold on to me tightly.**" I suggested.

He took my words to heart, and hunched his upper half directly over the back of my neck, as aerodynamic as he could possibly make himself. He had his torso slightly shifted to the right, so that his chest spike wouldn't "backstab" me. His arms wrapped much more tightly around my lower neck, he readjusted his seat somewhat, he tucked his tail in slightly, he coiled his feet on my shoulders slightly more, and his head rested on the back of my neck.

"_Okay, now what?_" He said, his body now placed closer to mine.

"**Try not to black out.**"

After my last words, my body flares with Light Green (Wind) Aura, and the wind surrounding us forms a protective ovoid dome against oncoming wind, in the form of my _Aero Sphere Twister_ technique.

Once I had this aerodynamic scalpel in play, I unshackled my handicap and rocketed through the air, slicked across the water below, and detonated the air around me with a loud snap. With this body and this Elemental Aura ability in play, I was easily exceeding _quadruple_-digit speeds, and quickly capped out at 2100 mph, or Mach 3.

Xeno Lucario was thankful that I gave him time to tighten his grip over me. The G-forces he was feeling from my high-speed flight were surprisingly powerful, and it took some mental straining and face cringing in his part to keep his blood from migrating down to his feet. It also took some physical rigidity in his part to keep from sliding off of me.

"(Looks like Eduardo and I are blasting off again!)"

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p>"I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time." —Anna Freud<p>

* * *

><p>Was this chapter all that I promised for since I first began this fanfic? It sure feels that way to me. But before I call it a day though, I just have one last thing to do.<p>

For those who are savvy with classical music (of which I hope are still around), you'll understand that "Messa da Requiem: Dies irae - Tuba Mirum" is a _powerful_ piece of music, with _lyrics_, lyrics that I never put into this chapter, much like what I did with "Faint" (by Linkin Park) and "Soldier Side" (by System of a Down). And the reason for that is simple.

You lose track, almost _immediately_, of what exactly they're saying after a minute into the song.

Thankfully, I have enough of a mind to post the lyrics to that classical masterpiece, to save you the trouble of looking for them.

_Dies irae_  
><em> dies illa<em>  
><em> Solvet saeclum in favilla:<em>  
><em> Teste David cum Sybilla.<em>  
><em> Quantus tremor est futurus<em>  
><em> Quando judex est venturus<em>  
><em> Cuncta stricte discussurus!<em>  
><em> Dies irae<em>  
><em> dies illa<em>  
><em> Solvet saeclum in favilla:<em>  
><em>Teste David cum Sybilla<em>  
><em> Quantus tremor est futurus<em>  
><em> Quatdo judex est venturus<em>  
><em> Cuncta stricte discussurus!<em>  
><em> Quantus tremor est futurus<em>  
><em> Dies irae, dies illa<em>  
><em> Quantus tremor est futurus<em>  
><em> Dies irae, dies illa<em>  
><em> Quantus tremor est futurus<em>  
><em> Quantus tremor est futurus<em>  
><em> Quando judex est venturus<em>  
><em> Cuncta stricte discussurus<em>  
><em> Cuncta stricte<em>  
><em> Cuncta stricte<em>  
><em> Stricte discussurus<em>  
><em> Cuncta stricte<em>  
><em> Cuncta stricte<em>  
><em> Stricte discussurus! <em>

Even better, I also have the english translation.

_Day of wrath and doom impending,_  
><em> Heaven and earth in ashes ending<em>  
><em> David's word with Sibyl's blending<em>  
><em> Day of wrath and doom impending<em>  
><em> Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth<em>  
><em> When from heaven the judge descendeth<em>  
><em> On whose sentence all dependeth.<em>

And with this chapter taken care of, my next chapter will focus on the future, or more specifically what I plan to dive into as I progress. After all, I've already stated before that I have a sequel in the works, and it's going along quite well.

Through my next chapter, I will focus on the _four_ known groups that I have established in my story. I will focus on the two protagonist groups, which consist of Xeno's Pokemon friends at Spear Pillar, and the group of Costas, Eduardo, Ian, and Xeno. I will focus on the antagonist group, which consists of Nero and the hooded figure.

And lastly, I will focus on one last group, one that should be obvious when you think about it.


	24. Chapter XVIII (18)

Hit Count: 4,402

Since August 31st, 2011, I identified myself onto this website with this story of mine, this tempered story, one that I've put my heart and soul into, one that I've put tens of thousand of keystrokes, as well as hundreds of hours (perhaps even a thousand) of my free time to shape this mental idea of mine into what you all can read today.

And now, after almost nineteen months since I uploaded the first two chapters of my story, the final "epilogue" chapter of "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_" is here, the chapter that concludes this 330,000+ JUGGERNAUT of a FanFic by establishing the next beginning, where "_The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms_" will continue off of its predecessor. With any luck, my sequel will get just as much attention, maybe even _more_, than the original.

Nevertheless, I write because I can and I write because I sincerely enjoy doing so. I enjoy doing this as one of my main hobbies, the other ones including collecting and selling Pokemon cards on eBay, as well as playing video games on my Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U. I enjoy doing this because as I turn 20 in May, I like to keep my brain stimulated by writing, and studies show that mental function tends to decrease with age.

So now, without further ado, I give you the final chapter of "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_". I hope that you all see it as a fitting conclusion to my first MASSIVE FanFic, and enjoy where I choose to go from there.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter XVIII (18): Dividing Crossroads<strong>

Location: Castelia City

Date: April 2nd, 2019

Time: 12:12 AM (Midnight)

Castelia City: a massive, man-made marvel of metropolitan ubiquity, where millions of people inhabit and thrive as they progress through their daily lives.

During this present time, the entire city was aglow within the darkness of its surroundings, with dozens of millions of individual lights combining their illumination and rendering the metropolis into a nighttime day. These lights were bright enough to shroud the roofs of many of the skyscrapers from the citizens looking up from below.

This masked a Pokémon in a brown cloak from being noticed by the people below.

This Pokémon, whom underneath its brown cloak is known by a select few on this planet as the Genetic Pokémon Mewtwo, stood tall on one of the tallest buildings of Castelia City. From its perch, it stared down at the calm, yet active activity of the human population within this urban marvel, of which there are a variety of.

Mewtwo could see the famous Royal Unova cruise ship leaving port and setting a course for passing through and directly under Skyarrow Bridge, with very wealthy and sophisticated ladies and gentleman enjoying their surplus of luxuries.

Mewtwo also noticed other ships besides the Royal Unova using the waters surrounding Castelia City. And from its ever-expanding catalogs of knowledge, Mewtwo easily identified the types of ships surrounding Castelia City. The smaller ships that it sees are reasonably-sized ferry boats, carrying at least a hundred people at a time, and transporting people before and after its roundabouts. The larger ships, which practically dwarf the ferry ships and _double_ on the size of the Royal Unova, are used for transporting cargo from other locations to Castelia City, or vice versa.

Within the main streets of Castelia City, Mewtwo could still see lively activity from a small fraction of the human masses. It knew that most people were asleep during this time of day. However, it also knew that there was still sufficient activity to be done at night. Some people have their graveyard shifts during this time, or some people simply feel like strolling and recollecting themselves, often talking to their friends if they're accompanying them.

Within these same streets, business was still ongoing during midnight. People were still selling merchandise to the fraction populace. Some of these items were helpful trinkets or delicious snacks, such as the Castelia City's famous soft-serve Casteliacone. That treat however, left Mewtwo questioning the idea of shaping a snack in the form of the Pokémon Vanillite, and left it a lingering feeling of mild discomfort whenever it sees people finish that ice cream.

Until it eventually acquired one out of curiosity anyway, then that discomfort turned to sweet satisfaction.

"(All of this I would find _minutely_ interesting…)" Mewtwo pondered with a soulless expression, "(…If I was doing this a few months ago.)"

Over the years, Mewtwo spent almost all of its time exploring the world, making sense of anything and everything about it. It observed the way that human civilization functions, the tools they utilize to benefit their everyday lives, and the history behind their entire race. It also analyzed the lifestyle of its own innate Pokémon race, how they acted in groups, where they inhabited, and what they did to pass their time. Finally, it also studied the way this world _itself_ functions, from an environmental as well as a geological perspective.

But now that it has learned as much as it feels it'll get from this world, boredom has settled within the cloaked Genetic Pokémon, from the virtual lack of topics to delve for knowledge.

Mewtwo quickly has an idea of what to do now, and decides to sit down cross-legged and wrap its brown robe around itself in adjustment of its desired posture.

It decides to meditate on its entire past, starting with the day that it was born.

* * *

><p><span><em>24.1: First Memories<em>

The very first moments of life that Mewtwo recollected were when it was created within a laboratory, held within a cylindrical glass container that promoted its body with an external gestational slumber. It recalled awakening and opening its eyes before unleashing a small burst of telekinetic energy, which shattered its glass container and drained it of its pseudo-amniotic contents.

Mewtwo remained seated within the floor of its container, eyed by the staff of scientists that all had a part in his overall creation. They all explain to the newly born Genetic Pokémon that it was nothing more than a successful experiment, involving the cloning process of the New Species Pokémon Mew, and begin to congratulate themselves on their scientific success.

Mewtwo interprets their information and questions its destiny in the process. It ponders that this can't possibly be its destiny, to exist as a simple experiment of a cloned Pokémon. Once it came to this realization, it unleashed its power on the laboratory of its birth, as well as the scientists who created it, decimating them and ending their lives prematurely. Within moments, everything around it was reduced to conflagrated rubble, and Mewtwo stood in the middle of it, pondering its strength and how it is greater than that of Mew.

Before it knew it, Giovanni arrived to this wreckage via helicopter and personally introduced himself to Mewtwo. He says that he wants Mewtwo as his "partner" and is willing to help it control its power, because without doing so, Mewtwo would simply duplicate its destructive results, as was the case on this laboratory. Mewtwo recalled accepting Giovanni's proposition, if it meant tempering its powers.

Giovanni, as part of his "partnership" with Mewtwo, had armor assembled for Mewtwo, armor that would strengthen and focus Mewtwo's innate psychic abilities, even though Mewtwo believed that it would suppress its strength at first. And with this armor on during every battle or mission, Giovanni and Mewtwo worked "together" to overcome their obstacles or fulfill their tasks.

Eventually, Mewtwo was given its own room within Giovanni's Main Headquarters building: Room 29-6, placed directly on the 29th floor, with only Giovanni's room—the Registration Room—placed above it. Within this room is where it met Xeno Lucario—the name "Xeno" given to this dark-furred Lucario by Giovanni—, whom was registered as a member of Team Rocket under Giovanni's orders, making him the second admitted Pokémon in the organization's history to receive this arcane honor. Xeno was quick to discuss his plans with Mewtwo on escaping from Team Rocket, liberating as many of the Pokémon within here as possible, after he was brought here reluctantly when they killed off a couple of his friends and set a portion of his Celadon Forest home ablaze.

Mewtwo recalled that it didn't care about escaping at first, but was willing to help Xeno in his ideas—in his "Team Liberator" initiative—even though it wouldn't fully immerse itself within Xeno's plan. To aid this mysterious Aura Pokémon, Mewtwo accepted Giovanni's suggestion of adopting three Pokémon to use during its missions—a Duskull, a Larvitar, and Shinx—, and added those three to Xeno's chosen Pokémon—"Aqua" Lapras, "Terra" Garchomp, and his childhood friend "Wanderer" Lucario, whom was captured alongside him from their shared home.

The eight of them, alongside one more Pokémon that both Lucario and Xeno each received when they were promoted to Admin—Lucario's Aron and Mewtwo's Charmander—, underwent various battles, training sessions, and missions, all under the authority of Team Rocket, while Xeno was discreetly preparing for his eventual escape. And through the course of one year, every one of the Pokémon under Mewtwo's and Xeno's ownership grew in strength and evolved fully, except for Lucario's Aron and Mewtwo's Charmander, whom only elevated themselves one stage—to a Charmeleon and a Lairon—due to their late arrival into Xeno's cause.

Despite Xeno's unyielding urge to escape this Pokémon prison that he was unwillingly placed within, Mewtwo eventually escaped first, almost unexpectedly and in immediate response to a bitter truth.

Directly after another flawless victory in Giovanni's Viridian City Gym, Mewtwo questioned its destiny in life, and Giovanni told it that its destiny is to obey humans, as it was created to do so. Mewtwo, as it did before when it was born, quickly denies this destiny and responds viciously against this accusation by destroying the Viridian Gym, never caring if Giovanni was buried and killed within the rubble or not.

What happened after that was solely to support Xeno's plans of escape. It left behind its party of Pokémon—Charmeleon, Dusknoir, Luxray, and Tyranitar—within the Poké Balls that they resided within, as well as a detailed letter about its side of this story, and a belt for storing up to ten Poké Balls in. All of this was placed within a small brown package for Xeno to receive within Room 29-6, _personally_ dropped off for him before Mewtwo crossed the vast Kanto oceans to its island of birth.

It strongly believed that, with the help that it decided to leave behind for him to inherit—as well as Xeno's reliable skills in leadership, martial combat, and strategy—, he would escape shortly after it, and escape with virtually all of the Pokémon inventory within Team Rocket Main Headquarters. What happened afterward for Xeno and his Pokémon colleagues was something that _wasn't_ of its primary interest.

Once it returned to its island of birth, where the laboratory it destroyed—along with its damned scientists—still remained as a heap of ashen debris, it had an idea surge within its mind. It had an idea on what would occur if the roles of humanity and Pokémon were swapped. In other words, what would happen if _Pokémon_ were the dominant species on this planet? It also pondered about itself, who it is and what was its destiny, both questions which secretly plagued it mind since birth.

Perhaps with this idea that it'll set in motion—"The Reign of Mewtwo" it recalled titling it—, its answers will be made clear.

_Mewtwo's Island/Pokémon: The First Movie [Original Motion Picture Score]/John Loeffler; Manny Corallo; Ralph Schucktt_

_(Song Begins)_

Mewtwo recalled heavily the effort that it went through to get its idea constructed, given form, and shaped _before_ it went into motion. It recalled constructing an elaborate palace on Kanto's New Island, with relative ease due to its herculean levels of genius and unrivaled psychic abilities, in only a fraction of the time that a construction crew of thousands of humans —and likely just as many Pokémon—would take.

Afterwards, it recalled creating an elaborate machine that could actually _duplicate_ Pokémon, which was named the "Pokémon Replication System". The logic and understanding behind this machine was simple enough for Mewtwo to understand, especially when it used physical evidence—_itself_—as the archetype for the grasping of the science of genetics.

With this machine, it had another idea illuminate the virtually limitless brain cells within its mind. The idea was that _cloned_ Pokémon were more superior when juxtaposed to their original counterparts, once again using itself as the physical evidence to support this hypothesis.

Also, it contemplated the theory that because its DNA was closely equal to that of Mew—the Pokémon from which it was cloned of—, and that Mew was capable of becoming one of each and _every_ Pokémon at will, it could use its _own_ DNA to reverse-engineer any Pokémon of its choosing.

However, because humanity created it through horrific gene-splicing and complex manipulation of its DNA, they made a tangled mess of its genetics, which was eerily and surprisingly stable enough to allow it to live normally and without any physical complications. So instead, Mewtwo chose that using existing Pokémon and cloning them would be easier and faster than using itself, untangling its own DNA, and assembling the blueprints for each and every Pokémon within its genetic strand.

With that being said however, the Genetic Pokémon still gave the latter attempt a try, and successfully managed to create _three_ Pokémon from its own DNA. It created a Bulbasaur, a Charmander, and a Squirtle, all three of which seemed partially decorated with darkened, irregular "stripes" all over their own skin.

Its choices in these three Pokémon, for some unidentifiable reason, mildly perplexed it. Deep within its subconscious, Mewtwo had a lingering feeling as though they were important in its life, even though it had no memory whatsoever of this, no matter how hard its attempts at recollection were. It also ponders that perhaps this is why it chose Charmander as its fourth Pokémon, back when it was in Team Rocket. The reason was likely for some unconscious, subliminal mental fragment that was inaccessible to delve into, but there nevertheless, away from its reach.

Mewtwo quickly disposed of this needless thought as quickly as it had sprouted, and returned to more pressing matters.

_(Song Ends)_

In terms of harvesting existing Pokémon, Mewtwo believed that it's easier for the Pokémon _themselves_ to come to it, to New Island, compared to search for Pokémon _individually_ across specific locations on the entire planet. Also, it would be better to collect Pokémon that Pokémon Trainers possessed rather than wild ones, because then it could demonstrate first-hand its idea to a small handful of humanity.

And overpower any defiance in the process, which would likely come down to that.

All it needed was the right bait, the right incentive to lure in as many individuals as possible. With its marvelous acumen, it quickly contemplated kidnapping a well-known human being—the Nurse Joy of the closest human city from its location—and brainwashing her to serve it obediently.

Mewtwo has the Nurse Joy send holographic invitations displaying her _human_ image, rather than its own _Pokémon_ image, to "chosen trainers" nearby that city. Those that accepted must then arrive to New Island, Mewtwo's designated location.

However, it wouldn't make this so straightforward for them.

Mewtwo decided to conjure a powerful storm, which was placed between the city and New Island, with its incredible psychic abilities. Those who braved it are worthy to arrive, and showed admirable attributes in overcoming its obstacle.

In the end, only a select few managed to overcome its natural bulwark. And when the time was right, Mewtwo introduced itself properly to them, having Nurse Joy title it as "The greatest Pokémon Master in the world", as well as being the most powerful Pokémon in the world.

Almost naturally, one of the Pokémon Trainers disagreed on the idea of a Pokémon being a Pokémon Trainer—and especially a Pokémon _Master_. In immediate response to this, Mewtwo distinctly recalled Nurse Joy and itself saying simultaneously "Quiet, human. From now on, I make the rules."

Afterward, it shoved the trainer aside telekinetically, and then reflected the trainer's Gyarados's HYPER BEAM attack back at its sender. Mewtwo then recalled dismissing Nurse Joy from its brain-manipulating control, where she quickly falls from losing consciousness. However, a dark-skinned man with squinted eyes (Brock) quickly comes to her aid and catches her before the floor did.

Mewtwo then gave a brief speech at how Pokémon will never coexist as equals with humans, and that those Pokémon that are trained under human control are simply slaves that mindlessly obey their commands. Once again, it receives a quick disagreement by a Pokémon Trainer's Pikachu, and promptly sends that Pokémon flying, where its trainer catches it and takes the fall.

That trainer (Ash Ketchum) then decides to challenge Mewtwo to a battle, where it easily accepts, because it had planned for this likelihood beforehand. It exposes a stadium predetermined for this, and introduces its three cloned Pokémon, now fully evolved as a Blastoise, Charizard, and a Venusaur.

Two trainers, in rejoinder to this, chose to release their Venusaur and Blastoise. Ash follows suit and releases his Charizard, which quickly breathes fire at Mewtwo, but to absolutely no avail. Mewtwo can't help but say how poorly trained Ash's Charizard is, for attacking so instinctively.

After that, the two trainer's Blastoise and Venusaur clashed against its cloned Blastoise and cloned Venusaur, where Mewtwo's cloned Pokémon _effortlessly_ dispatched their Pokémon with only one attack. Ash's Charizard took longer to dispatch because both his Charizard and Mewtwo's cloned Charizard clashed in the air, but eventually fell in battle nevertheless.

As its prize, Mewtwo decides to claim all of the trainer's Pokémon as its own and make clones from them. As expected _again_, one of the trainers (Ash Ketchum) defies it and is quickly launched to the man with closed eyes (Brock).

With a smile—something that Mewtwo _knows_ it hardly ever does—, it creates black Poké Balls of its own, which quickly swarm the area and assimilate the Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon on contact. Not even Pokémon returned into their Poké Balls are safe, because even _those_ Poké Balls were assimilated as well.

One Pokémon (Ash's Pikachu) gives Mewtwo's black Poké Balls the greatest challenge, and escapes them for as long as its electrical capabilities hold firm. However, it too is captured by them, and its trainer (Ash Ketchum) follows closely behind the black Poke Ball's path back to Mewtwo's "Pokémon Replication System" machine.

Rather quickly, Mewtwo's machine makes quick work in duplicating all of the trainer's Pokémon into stronger clones for its personal use. It then recalls explaining its plan of ruling the world with cloned Pokémon under its command. And almost quickly after that, Ash comes out of the smoke that resulted from Mewtwo's machine blowing up just after cloning Mewtwo's Pokémon. Mewtwo clearly recalls Ash saying "You can't do that Mewtwo, I won't let you." After that, all of the captured Pokémon appeared from the smoke and followed behind him.

For some reason, Mewtwo can't comprehend what went on within that human's mind when Ash suddenly decided to charge at it and attempted to punch it TWICE.

On the first time, Mewtwo deflected him back with psychic energy, and onto his rear end. And on the second time, when Ash got back up and repeated his action, Mewtwo applied _more_ force and sent him high and flying up towards a wall. However, before Ash collided with a wall, a red bubble of psychic energy caught him and cushioned his impact, before it popped and he endured a gruesome...two foot landing.

The cause of this interference was Mew, who laughs at Ash's "fall" before creating another bubble to playfully bounce on. Mewtwo easily recalled popping that bubble with SHADOW BALL, and sending a few more of those projectiles at Mew, before explaining that it was created from Mew's DNA.

Shortly after that, both Mew and Mewtwo clash in martial combat. At one point, Mewtwo's SHADOW BALL attack successfully makes contact with Mew's tiny body, causes it to squeak in pain, and sends it flying across the clouds above. The SHADOW BALL technique never dispersed after impact, due to its surprising density, and simply carried the New Species Pokémon along for the ride.

Mewtwo smiles and even _chuckles_ at its accuracy, before Mew manages to send the attack back at its original sender. The attack proved far too fast for Mewtwo to avoid, and collides with it, causing Mewtwo to fly back and crash into its stadium's stone seats. It was clear that a serious challenge would come from this, when Mewtwo vindictively emerged from the rubble within a blue energy dome of its conjuring.

Mewtwo explains that it and its stalwart, replicated Pokémon will dominate with their superiority. Mew quickly—and unsurprisingly—disagrees and says that true power of Pokémon comes from the heart, from within, and not from genetics. In response, Mewtwo blocks the _abilities_ of all of the Pokémon in the area with its psychic abilities, leaving itself and Mew free of this handicap, so they could fight at full force.

All of the Pokémon fight, except for Ash's Pikachu, which willingly chooses to remain pacifistic at this.

Ash, from his high perch, looks on at the carnage unfolding below. He sees Pokémon employing various methods of inflicting harm upon each other: punching, kicking, biting, head-butting, tackling, throwing, swiping, wrestling, etc. He also sees his Pikachu refusing to fight against its clone, taking blow after blow with discarded martial retaliation. Eventually, those Pokémon tire out, with Ash's Pikachu refusing to fight as is, all while Mew and Mewtwo clash their might in the sky.

Ash precariously climbs his way down the high platform structure that Mewtwo flung him onto, as the other Pokémon Trainers clamor about peace and how it's wrong to fight this way. At this point, Mew and Mewtwo descend onto the center of the stadium's arena, locking psychic energy against each other. Also, by now, the other Pokémon collapse from fatigue and stop fighting altogether.

Mew and Mewtwo hover back somewhat and prepare their might for their final attacks. And as they fire their energy at each other, Ash steps between them both, shouting at the top of his lungs for them to stop. Their attacks make contact with _him_ in the crossfire, and quickly engulf him. Mewtwo, utterly puzzled by this, recalls calling him a fool for interfering in the attack.

When the attack fades away and the smoke clears, Ash collapses onto the floor and turns to stone.

Pikachu, being the only Pokémon that remained idle through the battles that unfolded on this arena, immediately comes to Ash's side and attempts to shock him awake. All of the other Pokémon wake up by now, and see Pikachu continue to shock a petrified Ash until it's out of energy, as well as out of hope. All of a sudden, all of the Pokémon—aside from Mew and Mewtwo—begin to cry at his sacrifice. And astonishingly, their _tears_ manage to return Ash back to normal, much to their relief and surprise.

Mewtwo is just plain perplexed by this, how the human was willing to sacrifice his life to stop them both. And somehow, through that confusion, Mewtwo comes to understand an important lesson. It realizes the error in pitting Pokémon against each other in this way, as well as how a life is a life, regardless of the form it takes in an individual. What truly matters is what you _do_ with your life—what Ash just demonstrated—, and not how you are born with it—which Mewtwo implied.

With this drastic change of ideals, Mewtwo takes all of the clones with it and flies away, with Mew coming alongside it. He leaves behind the message "I will never forget what conspired here today. What this has left, is best forgotten", as well as a blue aura that engulfs all of those that remain within the arena, sending them back to where they came, with their memories of these events completely obliterated.

* * *

><p><span><em>24.2: Returning Memories<em>

A fair amount of time past after the events that unfolded in New Island. Mewtwo, with its heart softened somewhat by the selfless example that Ash Ketchum demonstrated before it, decided to take the Pokémon clones that it had created alongside it to a safer, secluded location.

The Mew that accompanied it earlier decided to leave during this, for reasons that only it possesses, which Mewtwo believes is merely something simple as wandering around the planet as a free, playful spirit.

So now Mewtwo, with its attention fully directed to the wellbeing of its cloned Pokémon, traveled from its birth land in Kanto, all the way to the Johto region, searching for a locale that is completely secluded and away from the mixed natures of humanity.

Eventually, within the Johto region, it stumbles across the location that suited its criteria: Mt. Quena.

The geography of Mt. Quena consists of extremely steep cliffs (Purity Canyon) that surround a massive forest, a few rivers (Purity River) and a freshwater lake (Clarity Lake), all of which are placed at the very plateau of Mt. Quena. The overall location was a near-perfect natural utopia that Mewtwo decided to call home for itself and its cloned Pokémon.

Everyone settles into their new lives on Mt. Quena, with Mewtwo watching over them as their Pokémon guardian. It recalls clearly that none of them can belong to the known world because they were not born in it, which is why they all reside here in seclusion, away from humanity. All throughout this, it has two Pokémon clones—a Meowth and a Pikachu—that it seemed to spend almost all of its private time with. A logical reason behind this is because their respective archetypes, from which they were cloned from, had some part in its overall change of heart.

Later on, it notices below the cliffs of Purity Canyon, a bus driving by that suddenly rises above the ground due to an extremely strong wind that catches it from below. The bus would've easily careened off course and crashed when the wind drops it abruptly and inevitably, as well as kill anyone within the vehicle. However, Mewtwo simply catches the bus with its telekinetic abilities before the wind had a chance to carry it off, and gently sets it back onto the road, earning questionable looks from the Meowth and Pikachu clone that were beside it and watching closely. They eventually ask why Mewtwo did what it did, and it tells them why.

Later on, Mewtwo notices the human it recalls quite well, dangling from a hot-air balloon that bears the image of a Meowth. Shortly after that, it notices a small armada of balloons and helicopters, all from Team Rocket, heading over to Mt. Quena. At another point, it stops its Pikachu clone from attacking its original archetype, explaining that Team Rocket is inbound.

Team Rocket, doing what they do best, capture the Pokémon inhabiting Mt. Quena, be they originals or duplicates. Team Rocket doesn't manage to capture the clones of Meowth and Pikachu because Mewtwo interferes against its former occupation and saves them.

Giovanni quickly makes itself present before Mewtwo, and after a bit of an introduction between them, Giovanni discusses Mewtwo's return to Team Rocket, because it clearly wants Mewtwo's immense power as its own, and is clearly displeased at Mewtwo's leave.

Mewtwo bluntly says that it would sooner die than serve Giovanni again. In response to this, Giovanni unleashes two machines to combat Mewtwo. They discharge enough power to knock Mewtwo down. However, Mewtwo isn't even fazed by this, and quickly disposes both machines before they had a chance to charge up.

Giovanni is only briefly impressed by this, before deciding to make Mewtwo choose. He offers two choices, for Mewtwo to join him and return to Team Rocket, or for the water of Clarity Lake to be taken under the name of Team Rocket.

Some retaliation occurs, but Giovanni's trained subordinates simply brush it aside. Giovanni repeats his offer once more, saying for Mewtwo to submit, or else everyone will pay for its defiance.

In response to this, both of the machines that Mewtwo disposed of earlier return, without any noticeable signs of damage on them. They create an energy sphere between them, the dimensions of which are large enough to envelop Mewtwo within.

In realization that its options are limited to virtually nothing, Mewtwo gives in and steps into the energy sphere. Giovanni however, likely over some pent-up aggression towards Mewtwo's past actions on him, electrocutes Mewtwo with both of those machines so that it remains immobilized. And because he's a villain—and therefore doesn't play fair—chooses to claim Mt. Quena anyway, along with Mewtwo as a bonus.

With practically anyone who chooses to defy him either immobilized or incarcerated, Team Rocket commences with the construction of a base on Mt. Quena. However, the Bug-Type Pokémon that considers this place to be their utopia, retaliate in _swarms_ against Team Rocket. They actually manage to greatly hinder them, by using SLEEP POWDER on some of the workers, which causes a blow torch that one of them worked with to fall into a gas tank. The explosion is forceful enough to blow the doors free where Ash and his party were held captive in, and allow them to escape.

Ash, Misty, and Brock make it to the machines that were holding Mewtwo captive, and attempt to break it free of their energized grip. They successfully did so, when Mewtwo uses every ounce of strength it has, and when Pikachu uses THUNDERBOLT on one of the machines. However, the downside to this is that Mewtwo is now incredibly weak and drained of strength. Thankfully, they decide that throwing it into the Clarity Lake is what's best for it.

On their way over however, Giovanni immediately blocks their path. In response to this, both Misty and Brock send out their Pokémon and act as a distraction, allowing Ash and Mewtwo to proceed over to the lake. Giovanni attempts to follow, but can't due to the encumbering wildlife and clones surrounding and stalling him.

As Ash helps Mewtwo towards safety, Mewtwo asks Ash why he's helping it. Ash's immediate reply to this question is that Mewtwo choice of protecting his Pikachu is one possible explanation. Of course, he also says that you don't need a sufficient reason to help someone that's in trouble, because it's practically second nature to most people to help others. Mewtwo says that Ash may be one-of-a-kind amongst human kind, but Ash says that virtually everyone is, if given the chance.

Upon arrival to Clarity Lake, Ash displays surprising strength and actually _tosses_ Mewtwo into the lake. Mewtwo gets a few flashbacks of Mew and soliloquizes briefly as it's recovering, coming to the necessary conclusion of itself that it is Mewtwo, the one and only of its kind, and therefore a _real_ Pokémon.

Later, in his chopper, Giovanni asks for Mewtwo. And Mewtwo, now fully recovered, appears directly in _front_ of him and displays a phenomenal feat of its psychic powers. It creates a large beam that practically destroys everything. Clarity Lake disappears from view—when in reality, Mewtwo _moved_ Clarity Lake and the spring underground—, and Giovanni is left fuming and furious.

Afterwards, Mewtwo contemplates erasing the memories of everybody involved in this event. However, many of them object to this. Meowth points out that the Pokémon clones need to remember their past, especially if they're to have any kind of future. Ash gives Mewtwo his word that he would keep the sanctuary's existence secret, and Brock points out that erasing memories doesn't change the fact that the events actually happened.

Mewtwo acknowledges their wisdom, and decides to only use its ability of vanquishing memories to make Giovanni, and the rest of the Team Rocket operatives, forget about Mewtwo and the clones here. Afterward, the cloned Pokémon depart on their own as they intend to lead a new life as natural Pokémon in the wild. Ash and co. fly away in a Pikachu balloon, while Jessie, James and Meowth follow suit in their normal balloon.

At a later point in time, Ash, Misty and Brock are walking through a city in their travels. At one point, Ash swears that he hears Mewtwo's voice. Unfortunately, he is uncertain whether it was real or just a lingering memory flaring within his mind. Whether he believes it to be real or not, Mewtwo can be seen standing still upon a high flagpole on top of a building, watching over from above.

* * *

><p><span><em>24.3: Hands Full of Purpose<em>

Time: 12:40 AM

Mewtwo, still remaining seated in a cross-legged position on the roof of one of Castelia City's tallest skyscraper, spent a fair amount of time deeply contemplating those two critical chains of memories of his earlier past. And after doing that, Mewtwo recalled what happened after those events at Mt. Quena.

Now on its own, Mewtwo simply traveled across the entire world, choosing to observe all within sight, analyzing all that it was more than capable of doing, learning how the planet works from the inside and out, from virtually every single perspective possible.

It saw the world from a human's perspective—through their cultures, habitats, and lifestyle choices—, from a Pokémon's perspective—through their habitats, instincts, and lifestyle choices—, and even from _nature's_ perspective—through various settings, weathers, and assortment of geological wonders.

Mewtwo strongly believed that, ever since a few months ago, that it's assimilated almost all of the information it needs to understand about this planet. And with a drastic lack of new material to absorb, it now finds itself incredibly jaded of everything, with virtually nothing of apparent interest to it. In the end, it only has a select few topics to cling onto in terms of relevance, with one of them being of significant magnitude.

It ponders the idea of locating Xeno Lucario, especially since their paths have never crossed again after that faithful day, when it left Team Rocket.

If it were to begin to locate him, Mewtwo is quite sure that Xeno is no longer in Team Rocket. From what it recalls about the attributes of its former colleague, the Aura Pokémon likely escaped from Team Rocket shortly after itself, knowing well enough that he was truly capable of doing so.

However, questionable as it may seem, locating him might not be the best choice of action for the Genetic Pokémon, especially when Mewtwo recalled the details of the letter it left behind for Xeno, one paragraph in particular.

_ I plan on changing the world. I wish to see the roles of humanity and Pokémon swap places. The effects of this should prove interesting. The time for this to occur should be brief. And when I've successfully done so, I'll find you. For your sake, I hope that you've escaped by then._

Part of Mewtwo has doubts of returning to the Aura Pokémon when it has failed and then abandoned this idea of global domination, dismissing it eternally due to a narrow and speculative viewpoint of human nature, one acutely and irregularly shaped by the first people that it came in contact with. Mewtwo believes that it's not proper of it to return to Xeno as a failure—or at least someone who relinquished its idea—, where its viewpoint to him might be forever tarnished and irreversible.

Of course, Mewtwo also pondered the idea that Xeno _himself_ was looking for it, obviously without success since they've yet to cross paths again.

Perhaps Xeno was fully aware of the fact that what Mewtwo foreshadowed within its letter never actually occurred. If that's the case, then Xeno would've decided to search for it. He decided to look for it directly after he'd escape from Team Rocket, filled with questions that needed answers, or a thirst of curiosity that needed quenching.

And yet…this doesn't sound like the Xeno Lucario it has once worked with, nor does it seem like the best use of his time, especially because Xeno lacked a proper lead to follow it by.

Nevertheless, Mewtwo still believes that this thought has to have at least resonated within Lucario's intricate mind at some points between then and now. If that's the case, then what would he have thought of it? Would Xeno consider it a Pokémon that never fulfilled its word? Would he think of it as worthless, someone who is unable to keep a promise, someone who's unreliable and unable to complete any task, no matter how simple it may seem?

The answers to these questions were relatively simple and instantaneous, when Mewtwo contemplated it.

Xeno Lucario is _not_ the type of Pokémon that would immediately think this way about it, about _any_ Pokémon, regardless of their background.

For all Mewtwo knew, Xeno could care less about what it had written years ago that never truly occurred. For all it knew, Xeno had long since forgotten the very words of that letter, and the message that Mewtwo left it before leaving Team Rocket. What he probably cared more about, more than what its thoughts that mere ink on paper explained to him, was to see his good friend Mewtwo again. That sounds more like the Xeno Lucario that it worked alongside with, someone who cared deeply about the Pokémon that it has befriended, someone that he would happily work with until the end, whatever it may be.

His good friend Mewtwo…

His good…"_friend"?_

The word "friend", Mewtwo pondered, isn't exactly the proper term to accurately describe their relationship. It would sooner use the words "acquaintance", "colleague", and "roommate" before the term "friend" would properly fit. Xeno likely wouldn't do the same, but Mewtwo would.

Mewtwo and Xeno Lucario… The word "Colleague" sums up their connection much better than "friend", in its opinion.

However, if the two of them aren't the best of friends—or so Mewtwo believes—, then what reason would Xeno have of _looking_ for it anyway? The lack of a concrete lead to follow was _painfully_ obvious when the amount of time elapsed is accounted for. This, when properly complimented with Mewtwo's choice of activities—wandering this planet Earth in solitude and assimilating all of the information in its path, seldom crossing paths with other people or Pokémon and therefore remaining enigmatic towards them—made Mewtwo virtually untraceable.

It was clear, Mewtwo believed, that Xeno did _not_ choose to spend those years looking for it. But then, if that was true, what did Xeno choose to do?

Mewtwo, being prodigious of mind, already contemplated a plausible theory.

Xeno Lucario spent his time liberating Pokémon from Team Rocket.

Already though, Mewtwo calculated an obstacle that would occur with Xeno's actions. After the events that took place in the Main Headquarters of Team Rocket, Giovanni would've likely reinforced security against him and his heightened movement, preventing lightning from striking twice in the same spot, and making a repeat performance next to impossible without running severe repercussions.

That being said, there is another way Lucario could liberate Pokémon from Team Rocket, a method that was far easier to accomplish, much less precarious, and would even aid in inhibiting the problem before it began.

Xeno Lucario likely took it upon himself—alongside his Pokémon colleagues that are probably inseparable friends now—to _train_ the Pokémon that he liberated from Team Rocket Main Headquarters. In doing so, he would take it upon himself to fortify the Pokémon that he liberated, while simultaneously strengthening himself and his friends in the process.

This was the better use of his time, Mewtwo believed, for the benefit of the hundreds of Pokémon that Lucario likely liberated from Team Rocket. They would all become much stronger than they ever were before, greatly reducing their chances of recapture. This would also allow them to pass on their knowledge to other Pokémon, be they close friends, eager souls, or even the next generation of Pokémon.

How much time that Xeno's monumental effort of selfless generosity would take however was unclear to Mewtwo, and would require a fair amount of calculations in its part.

If Xeno Lucario finished this monumental task of training the hundreds of Pokémon that he liberated on that faithful day over eight-and-a-half years ago, then he would've finished quite recently. Based on its calculations, which basically consisted of a _herculean_ amount of possible and inevitable factors, alongside time variations imaginable—far too many to list, but not beyond the realms of its comprehensive abilities—, Xeno Lucario should have finished by now. He should've completed this task on the date of…

Yesterday.

If that's true then, what would Xeno wish to do next, with the Pokémon group that accompanies him?

Once again, the answer came quickly to it, once it recalled its past experiences.

Xeno Lucario, with his party of Pokémon, would return to Mt. Coronet's Spear Pillar, the site of the prophecy that Wanderer wished to decipher in its entirety. The utter vagueness of the prophecy would lure them there, where they would likely receive the answer that they've been hungering for. This is the first task that they would do, outside of "Team Liberator".

Perhaps Mewtwo _should_ reunite with Xeno. And because it's dexterous enough to anticipate where they'd be next, it should take advantage of this prediction, before this chance abandons it.

If Mewtwo chooses to leave Castelia City, to fly from the Unova region to Mt. Coronet's Spear Pillar in the Sinnoh Region, odds are that it'd arrive in time to return to them. And when it does, the most likely outcome would be a proper reunion between them all, regardless of past actions or emotions.

Mewtwo, after a long and dedicated mental recollection and calculation, finally uncrossed its legs and got back upright and on its feet, its brown cape uncoiling from it and waving slightly in the strong winds.

It looks up at the night sky, contemplating the length of this flight journey ahead of itself. It knows that it was just past midnight, and the time it would take—by its computation—to fly from Castelia City to Mt. Coronet's summit would allow the sun to rise somewhat from the east. So if it wants to arrive to Spear Millar by morning, then it shouldn't dawdle around here any further.

Mewtwo was just about to focus its mind and power for high-speed flight, when all of a sudden…

"_Are you sure you want to do that?_" An authoritative, cautious voice was audible behind Mewtwo's right side. "_Flying underneath this pitch-black shroud seems a little…reckless, doesn't it?_"

"_Don't listen to it! Go right ahead!_" A wild, almost maniacal voice, audible from behind Mewtwo's left side, eerily complimented the first voice. "_Fly blind across the night sky! Don't give a fu—!_"

…Two voices startled it and forced it to freeze in its tracks.

"(That's…impossible…)" Mewtwo pondered with its sharp, mauve eyes opened wide. "(No one should be able to sneak up on me without being detected _by_ me!)"

Mewtwo began to turn its body to face these two voices, ready to attack if needed. And what it saw indubitably…

"(So what _exactly_ is behind—?)"

…Were two disembodied, hovering, white-gloved hands, one right hand and one left hand, each the size of a compact car.

Or to be more specific, one right hand manipulating one of the _digits_ of the left hand.

"_You moronic, uncontrollable, bastard! Are you already forgetting why we're here?!_" The right hand attempted to correct its left hand doppelganger, by pulling the middle finger back until it was bending ninety degrees _backwards_.

"_Heheheheh…_" The left hand didn't seem to feel _any_ pain from this at all, and found it amusing instead. "_Of course not, I know exactly why we're here! You, on the other…_hand_, seem to be forgetting._"

"…" The right hand loosened its grip enough for the left hand to squirm out of it and relax. The right hand then faced Mewtwo, to the best of its ability because of a _complete_ lack of proper facial expression.

"…" Mewtwo just stared on at the two disembodied hands with widened eyes and a gnarled countenance, never witnessing such a bizarre sight as this in its life.

"_…Oh! Uh…sorry that you had to see that…_"The right hand curled up somewhat in embarrassment at letting its frustration overpower it. "_I should introduce us first. My name is Master Hand._"

The right hand uncurled and pointed a finger towards its somewhat obtuse counterpart.

"_And the name of my left-handed brother over here is Crazy Hand._"

In response to its right-handed equivalent's introduction, Crazy Hand jitters somewhat with the tips of its fingers coiled tightly inward.

Mewtwo, being a Pokémon who views logic and reason as absolute, finds the existence of both of these entities to be doubtful.

"(Did I ingest a fermented Berry reflexively and am now hallucinating these two beings?)" Mewtwo digressed in thought. "(…No. That's impossible. I would never be so insentient with such basic actions, and I'm not one to doubt my intelligence either.)"

Master Hand, taking note of Mewtwo's unwavering glare, approached the Genetic Pokémon slowly, only hovering a few feet forward, so as to appear as warm and welcoming as possible, without stirring any unnecessary martial conflict.

"_You seem puzzled by the two of us. It's written all over your pale face._" Master Hand said. "_Is it our presence that disquiets you?_"

Mewtwo's countenance unraveled ever so slightly at the disembodied right gloved hand. "_In its entirety,_" It assures them. "_Two hovering anomalies that are capable of telepathic speech and levitation—despite an apparent lack of proper cranial and cerebral placement or presence from what I can_ _detect—stand before me on an unknown agenda, one that I've yet to decipher._"

"…" The intellect that Mewtwo emanated from its sophisticate vocabulary and word choice astounded the Embodiment of Creation.

"_And that's only the surface of the ocean of this logical dilemma that your presence has created for me._" Mewtwo added.

Crazy Hand, jittering slightly before stepping forward and directly adjacent of Master Hand, decides to chime in on this conversation.

"_Do you find the two of us…_frightening?!" Crazy Hand stiffens itself in the shape of a hand that bears claws.

Master Hand, in immediate response to this, drops onto the floor of the roof of this building and taps its fingers on it in annoyance. It knew from brotherly experience where this was heading, and simply waited for this moment to pass.

"_No._" Mewtwo stated bluntly.

Crazy Hand relaxes itself and then suddenly curls up into a fist and launches itself over to Mewtwo's face, stopping mere inches from popping Mewtwo in the nose.

"_How about now?_" It said confidently.

Mewtwo's heart rate didn't jump a beat, and it didn't even blink at the Embodiment of Destruction's childish stunt. Its eyes, glued at the pallid knuckles of Crazy Hand, simply relaxed somewhat at this idiotic behavior. Its brown cape only fluttered somewhat by the thrust of air that Crazy Hand was responsible for. "_No…_" Mewtwo muttered in a softer volume, but with equal bluntness in its tone of voice.

As a last attempt, Crazy Hand spontaneously backed off at an upward angle, causing itself to rise about a few times higher in the air. Then, it opened itself fully horizontally, with its palm facing directly down, before slamming the roof floor of the building with a snapping slap of sound, embedding itself a couple of inches into the impression that it made on the cement.

"…" Mewtwo, without expressing its emotions externally, waited for this tedious moment to pass as badly as Master Hand did.

Crazy Hand, lying motionless on its imprint, silently listened to the rhythmic drumming that Master Hand's fingers made on the gravel from a few feet to its right side, imagining them to be a drum roll that increased the attention and excitement of this next act.

Before Mewtwo's eyes, Crazy Hand suddenly displayed an impressive feat of flexibility, by bending all five of its fingers about seventy degrees _upward_ and off of the ground.

Mewtwo's face, albeit rigid and unmoving, concealed its true thoughts on this stunt.

"_Double-jointed fingers…_" Mewtwo began. "_Interesting, but by no means disturbing to me._"

In defeat, Crazy Hand coiled into a fist and hammered itself on the roof once in frustration before relaxing. "_Damn it! You're no fun._"

With no apparent warning, Master Hand suddenly rises from its stagnancy and brushes Crazy Hand away, causing its left hand parallel to roll onto its "back". All Crazy Hand does in response to this is laugh somewhat and relax.

"_Alright, enough of this. You've digressed enough._" Master Hand said to its brother before facing Mewtwo. "_I sincerely apologize for my brother's behavior._"

"_Apology accepted,_" Mewtwo understood and responded quickly. "_Its constitution is in its name, after all._"

Mewtwo briefly eyed Crazy Hand and noticed that it was wiggling its fingers and chuckling somewhat as it was "belly up" after Master Hand brushed it aside.

Mewtwo's eyes homed back onto Master Hand. "_By any chance, did it ever suffer any mental injuries during early development—assuming there is any sort of organ structure within you both that even minutely _resembles_ a brain?_"

Master Hand briefly glimpsed at its brother and took note of its actions. "…_You could say that._" It responded vaguely before facing the Genetic Pokémon. "_But that's not important right now. What is important is our reason for being here before you._"

Mewtwo was completely attentive to this ethereal right-handed white glove, and crossed its arms before it, waiting for its response.

Master Hand took a few seconds to pause and ponder the right words to say, before stating its purpose here straightforwardly.

"_My brother and I are hosting a tournament of highly skilled fighters that inhabit virtually every corner of this universe._" Master Hand said. "_Our competition is being held on another planet, a remote one, millions of light years away from here, and we've come here to personally invite you to participate in our concourse of champions._"

The word "tournament" didn't stick to it mind as well as the words "another planet" and "universe" did. The mere mention that there was other planets—that there was extraterrestrial _wisdom_ beyond the confines of Earth—for it to take its time to study and understand, _that_ was what interested Mewtwo more than a simple martial tournament, where the likely outcome was effortless victory in its part due to its incredible telekinetic abilities.

However, before it began to grow further curious at this opportunity, its better judgment—fueled from past experiences—flared within its mind. Mewtwo was not an idiotic Magikarp that would clamp its feeble jaws on the cheap lure of an Old Rod on the first chance that it had, and knew now how to smell a trap before it was sprung or even _contemplated_ by its enemy.

This elevated distrust to the alluring requests of others was likely elevated a notch by the negative actions of a certain man: The Boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni. Because of this, even after Mewtwo contemplated the pros of expanding its wisdom beyond this tellurian biosphere, it felt as though this was a path that would be reluctantly repeated again. The potential cons of imprisonment and slavery to these two hands—their overall strength an enigma to it—illuminated stalwartly within the recesses of Mewtwo's mind, and kept its curiosity on a tight leash.

"_As tempting as this offer is,_" Mewtwo said before uncrossing its arms, turning its back, facing its brown cloak at Master Hand, and then walking over to the edge of the building to prepare to fly away. "_I'll have to decline, due to my past experiences in these types of positions._"

Master Hand anticipated this and knew _exactly_ what to say here. "_Are you referring to your first meeting with the Team Rocket Boss Giovanni?_"

Mewtwo stopped abruptly and stiffened its face when it felt its internal organs tighten uncomfortably at the sound of Master Hand's telepathic speech. It quickly did an about face to face Master Hand, its brown cloak waving in the wind before shifting behind its body. "_What did you just say?!_" The genetic Pokémon muttered before returning to its earlier spot.

"_Your _'partnership'_ with that man Giovanni,_" Master Hand twitched its first two fingers and air quoted at muttering that dubious relationship between Giovanni and Mewtwo. "_You eventually escaped from him and abandoned Team Rocket altogether when he cockily told you of what he genuinely saw in you, that you were created from a laboratory to serve him and benefit his criminal organization._"

Mewtwo, able to keep track of the times where it was rendered utterly dumbfounded due to how infrequently it occurs to it, adds another line to its mental tally. "_And how in Arceus's name do you know that?!_"

Crazy Hand decided to roll back onto its palm, before creeping on the ground as if it were a Caterpie, by hunching the back of its body forward, and then the front of its body forward. It approached Mewtwo and tapped it a few times in the foot with its index finger.

Both Master Hand and Mewtwo, for the wellbeing of their sanity, simply disregarded this behavior as quickly as it noticed it.

"_We've been observing you for some time, during critical moments in your life._" Crazy Hand let the truth come out without worry. "_We've observed your destruction of the laboratory from which you were born, your first meeting with Giovanni of Team Rocket, your time with that virtuous dark-furred Lucario that Giovanni nicknamed Xeno, your eventual departure from Team Rocket, your brief attempt at global supremacy at New Island, as well as your selfless actions on Mt. Quena._"

How both of these hands were able to monitor it so closely bothered the Genetic Pokémon. Master Hand, observant as it was, could see that perplexity written all over its rigid face.

"_If you must know,_" Master Hand added. "_The reason as to why we remained undetected to your telekinetic radar is because the both of us possess some proficiency in psychic abilities. Mind you, we're nowhere _near_ the level that you're at. However, for us, it's enough to allow us to communicate telepathically, fly and levitate, as well as camouflage ourselves from your extrasensory perception. And that's merely scratching the surface of our might._"

Mewtwo only found this mildly interesting, and figured that the only reason for spying on it was so that they could observe its strengths and pit it against other opponents to see how well it would perform.

However, it held firm in its choice of action, and decided to repeat that assertion.

"_My_ _response you're your invitation is unchanging,_" Mewtwo stated. "_I respect your effort and your time invested onto me, but I'm declining this offer, and I'll be taking my leave now._"

Mewtwo once again turned its back on Master Hand and proceeded over to the edge of the building. The right hand, however, was still attempting to have Mewtwo change its mind.

"_Mewtwo, I understand that because of your lingering distrust and spite over Giovanni, that your judgment on my offer is clouded and premature._"

Mewtwo simply ignored Master Hand's feeble effort at persuasion, and stopped when it was at the edge of the building, where one more step forward would make contact with nothing but air.

"_But I must ask of you—_beg_ of you even—to reconsider and accept! This offer is far more important than you realize!_"

Mewtwo rolled its eyes and groaned slightly at hearing how Master Hand was begging it to reconsider, when it had already declined the invitation and dropped the topic onto the floor. And now that the topic had shattered, they were still lamenting over the broken pieces.

With the power of its mind, Mewtwo began to hover off of the ground, its feet no longer touching the ground and supporting its weight. However, before Mewtwo could hover high enough into the sky to break the sound barrier, _two_ _more_ entities appeared directly in front of it, darting across the air at high speed to cut it off of its path.

One of them was the red Eon Pokémon Latias, and the other was the blue Eon Pokémon Latios.

"Stop right there, Mewtwo." Latios spoke with mild irritation. "For someone as smart as you, you're being awfully stupid about this. You're delaying this unnecessarily, letting your past experiences shroud your better judgment."

Latias added the truth to the matter, and didn't allow its feeling to get in the way, unlike its blunt brother. "Those two are the first steps to the path of your destiny."

Mewtwo, setting aside the fact that it couldn't sense these two Pokémon approaching it either—just like with both Master Hand and Crazy Hand—, simply decided to focus on what Latias had said earlier. "_It is my _'destiny'_ to go with them? Could you be more…specific?_" Mewtwo said with the slightest hint of doubt still lingering within its telepathic voice.

Both Eon Pokémon waste no time in saying what needs to be said.

"A great crisis will eventually make itself known in the incoming future." Latios said, barely leaving any time to pause between its words.

"The forces involved that are going to counteract this looming crisis—the three of us, alongside Xeno and its comrades, just to name a few—are already beginning to initiate their places in this overall plan." Latias added, highlighting those already involved.

"Whether you wish to be a part of this or not, you are needed." Latios continued. "And those two hands behind you are your guides, which you are mistakenly choosing to abandon."

Mewtwo, understanding now that this is all part of a similar agenda instead of a potential lure, hovers down and back onto the floor of the roof. When its feet once again touch a solid surface, it turns around and faces both Master Hand and Crazy Hand.

Both hands—Crazy Hand in particular—were now hovering alongside each other, one being relaxed and the other being…fidgety.

Mewtwo finds them all difficult to trust, and faces Latias and Latios once more, two Pokémon that it distrusts _less_. Both Pokémon hovered down to Mewtwo's level of height, possessing facial expressions that suggested that they're trustworthy.

Mewtwo disregarded this when it pondered one question that needed an answer.

"_Who are you all working for?_"

Both Latias and Latios simply looked at each other with concerned, uneasy faces, and contemplated if they should remain tight-lipped on the matter or not.

Both Master Hand and Crazy Hand remained as they were, proficiently shrouding any signs of emotions—mostly because they don't have faces to display them with.

Mewtwo briefly looked at both hands and then at the Eon Pokémon duo once more, seeing more of a psychological response from them rather than a pair of white-gloved hands. It ponders the reason behind their dispositions, and quickly formulated a logical hypothesis.

Their faces were mild signs of submissiveness, which Mewtwo believed to be the result of their superior. Their superior must possess great power, either benevolent or malicious power which may or may not have a great influence on their overall wellbeing, depending on their actions and their ability to follow orders. Their faces suggested that in telling the identity of their superior, they may be either disobeying an order, or unsure if the inquiry should be addressed or not with the orders that they've been given.

Regardless of that however, Mewtwo's undeniable acumen already allowed it to perfectly identify their leader.

"We…" Latias stammered heavily, unsure if it should even say anything on the matter or not. "We both…work…for…"

"_Arceus, the Original One,_" Mewtwo said with absolute certainty.

Both of the Eon Pokémon looked at the Genetic Pokémon with widened eyes, unsure as to how it knew the name of their superior so quickly, and on the first guess.

"_The answer should be obvious because even powerful Pokémon, such as the two of you, have _some_ lingering fear of Its greater power._" Mewtwo stated.

Both Pokémon showed mild faces of admiration over the keen insight that Mewtwo possessed.

"_So, this impending crisis is great enough for even _Arceus_ Itself to be involved in._" Mewtwo said.

"That's just about the truth of the matter." Latios confirmed Mewtwo's statement.

"_Well then,_" Mewtwo turned around and proceeded closer over to the hand duo before it, facing the two of them with a sliver of trust, just enough for it to say this. "_I suppose I should just comply with your logic, and enter this tournament that the two of you are hosting._"

Both hands, showing their gratitude over Mewtwo's acceptance, actually gave the Genetic Pokémon two thumbs up.

Mewtwo, from what it observed of human behavior, believes that this action is a display of pride over the choices of others. However, Mewtwo is extremely shallow in terms of emotions, and finds this somewhat unnecessary.

"Before you depart with them though," Latias said. "There's just one more matter to attend to."

Mewtwo faced the red Eon Pokémon. "_And what would that be?_"

"A companion," Latios continued, "someone to guide you through their tournament, who knows already how it works."

Mewtwo shows some curiosity to this matter, and turned to face the hand duo once again. "_Who did you two have in mind?_"

"_A Pokémon who has some experience with the first tournament that we held,_" Master Hand began.

"'First_ tournament'?_" Mewtwo's face suggested this question.

"Oh, that's right! We never mentioned to you that the tournament we're invited you to is our _second_ one." Master Hand admitted before returning to the main topic. "Anyway, this Pokémon that will accompany you—though it never actually participated in our first tournament as a fighter—has some experience with our first tournament because it was indirectly a part of it. And because it enjoyed itself in our first tournament, it was more than willing to return for our second tournament."

"_And who is this Pokémon that you're referring to?_" Mewtwo waited for the answer.

"You actually already _know_ this Pokémon," Crazy Hand said, "because the two of you have a strong history together."

Mewtwo only had to ponder the identity of this Pokémon for a couple of seconds before the blood drained from its face and down its first and "second" neck.

"Hello, Macro Mew!" A charming and borderline-obnoxious voice was audible before Mewtwo's ears.

Almost instantaneously, the source of that adorable voice hovered over directly in front of Mewtwo, making its presence known to the Eon Pokémon duo, to the hand duo, and _especially_ to the Genetic Pokémon.

Before Mewtwo's eyes, it sees a bipedal, miniscule, and pink Pokémon, with extremely fine fur that is virtually unnoticeable to the naked eye and to the touch. It possesses a long and lean tail that ends in a rounded tip. Its paws have stubby, three-fingered digits that are on equally stubby arms. Its feet, in contrast, are very large in comparison to its body, and possess oval-like markings nearby the three toes on each foot. Finally, it possesses triangular ears and soft blue eyes.

All too well from its past experiences, Mewtwo knows that the Pokémon that would accompany it in this new voyage would be Mew.

_**(National Pokédex entry #151: Mew, the New Species Pokémon. It is a Psychic-Type Pokémon that measures in at 1' 04" and weighs in at 8.8 lbs. Because it can use all kinds of moves, many scientists believe Mew to be the ancestor of Pokémon. However, the better hypothesis from scientists is that it possessed the DNA of every single Pokémon within itself.)**_

"…" Mewtwo just stared at its biological Pokémon archetype, concealing its overall emotions and thoughts on Mew within its mind and away from its face.

Mew stared at Mewtwo all the same, only with curiosity and friendliness in its clean little heart.

_Mew's Theme/Pokémon: The First Movie [Original Motion Picture Score]/Ralph Schuckett_

_(Song Begins)_

"Looks like we'll be spending a lot of time together on this new tournament," Mew said with adorable glee. "Hopefully, our past clash on abandoned ideas won't get in the way of our path to becoming good friends."

"…" Mewtwo still stared blankly at the New Species Pokémon, apparently immune by its unbelievable charm.

Mew, for no apparent reason aside from simply being cute and cuddly, flipped itself upside down to look at its dark genetic double from a different perspective, before flipping itself back upright and giggling somewhat.

_(Song Ends)_

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed slightly on the New Species Pokémon before it muttered telepathically.

"_Just…don't get in my way._" It said hollowly.

Mew only smiled at this. "Is that all? That's easy as pie."

That last word—that last magical three-letter word that Mew mentioned—caused Latias's face to drop and saliva to drip down its mouth.

"Mmm…pie…" Latias trailed off.

Before Mewtwo's eyes, Mew disappeared from view, only to place itself directly on _top_ of Mewtwo's head. Its upper body rested between the stubby, horn-like ears that Mewtwo possessed, while the extended feet of its lower half rested on Mewtwo's shoulders. Its tail even found support on Mewtwo's being, in the form of wrapping itself around Mewtwo's "second neck" a couple of times.

"I'll just remain right here on the top of your head," Mew chimed happily, "out of sight, and out of your way."

Mewtwo knew from past experiences that Mew was the type of Pokémon that would cuddle up to you if it so much as develops a friendship with you, regardless of whether you like Mew or not. From this, Mewtwo already knew that Mew was already growing attached to it—and not just from its present physical standpoint—and would only grow from here.

Mewtwo briefly fantasized how others would view their relationship, as well as their personality traits that complement each other so well. Others would see Mew, a Pokémon that is joyful, lovable, and emanating kindness with every movement, hanging out with it, a Pokémon that is stagnant, serious, and emanating a surplus of intellect.

This uncanny combination and complementation of opposing emotional and mental traits reminded Mewtwo of a couple of other figures that were present nearby them.

Master Hand and Crazy Hand, as well as Latias and Latios.

Mewtwo ogled the hand duo first, noticing quite clearly their dispositions based on their emotional traits. Crazy Hand's fingers were constantly dancing alongside each other, unwilling to stop anytime soon. Master Hand's fingers were curled up somewhat within itself, twitching ever so slightly if observed closely enough. With Mewtwo's incredible sense of acuity, it could clearly see that Crazy Hand was a carefree spirit, uncaring of whatever trouble it might get itself into. It also noticed that Master Hand was forced to carry the encumbrance and responsibility of its brother's actions, alongside its own.

Next, Mewtwo ogled both a distracted Latias and an annoyed Latios—hesitating somewhat on Latias when it caught a glimpse of its dopey, dribbling expression. For the most part, their personality traits are mostly similar to those of Master Hand and Crazy Hand, down to how one of them can drive the other crazy. However, they do have some noticeable differences when compared to the hand duo. The biggest difference from Latios when compared to Master Hand is that Latios absolutely _despises_ digression, where its short temper overcomes its emotions when it gets even partially impatient. From Latios's sister's perspective, it is wise as Latios, albeit easily unfocused by materialistic items that deeply fascinate it. The biggest of which is the humble pie, a man-made food dish whose variety of flavors and styles shake Latias's constitution to the core.

Mewtwo can't help but ponder how unusual this "magnetic" attraction of positive and negative emotions is, as well as how automatically it has gotten itself into it. Perhaps it's for the best in terms of keeping Mewtwo occupied, depending on Mew's behavior.

It suddenly decides to make like Latios and return to the main topic rather than make like Latias, and digress without a moment's notice.

Mewtwo talked to the blue Eon Pokémon. "_These future events that you've stated before,_" Mewtwo began. "_Where does Xeno Lucario and its colleagues fall into this?_"

"Arceus already has them covered." Latios assured the Genetic Pokémon. "And if everything goes as intended, you and your friends will reunite when it matters the most."

…Friends?

Apparently, Mewtwo _alone_ feels the need to unnecessarily downgrade its relationship with Xeno.

"_I understand._" Mewtwo says plainly before facing away from the Eon Pokémon duo for the final time, and locking eyes with the hand duo once more. "_Mew and I are ready to leave this planet whenever the two of you are._"

"_As you wish…_" Master Hand began, before hovering over to Mewtwo's left side.

"_…Genetic Pokémon,_" Crazy Hand ended, before hovering over to Mewtwo's right side.

Mewtwo—alongside the Mew that perched itself on top of its head—looked at both open hands with bewilderment, unsure as to why they placed themselves in such a way where a simple clap between them can…

"You know what's coming now," Mew told Mewtwo, "but don't move a muscle."

Mewtwo simply closed its eyes and bowed its head down in defeat.

"(*Sigh*) _Oh fu—_"

_**CLAP!**_

Both Master Hand and Crazy Hand clasped their hands—their entire bodies—together, with both Mew and Mewtwo between them. However, instead of harming—or perhaps _crushing_—both the Genetic Pokémon and the New Species Pokémon, all four of them became something else entirely.

The four of them, under the unknown abilities of both hands, suddenly transformed into pure white energy, a bright ball of light that could be seen so easily in the night sky by the human populace below, were it not for the camouflage of the other thousands of lights that the city produced in excess.

Before the eyes of both of the Eon Pokémon, this ball of pure energy suddenly rocketed upward, breaking the speed of light in a split second. It soared into the night sky, into the starry landscape, into the cosmos, all in mere seconds. All that remained on the roof of this building in Castelia City was a disappointed Latias and a successful Latios.

"We're done here," Latios said with a small smile. "We should return to Arceus now and—"

"(*Sigh*)" Latias continued to look up at the night sky, where the four of them involved in this tournament traveled across.

Latios approaches its sister with brotherly curiosity. "Is something the matter?"

Latias suddenly jerked its head to Latios upon hearing it speak. "Huh? Oh. I was just pondering…" It looked back up at the sable horizon that surrounded this planet. "…how I would've loved to enter that tournament of theirs."

Latios, not normally a Pokémon who agrees with its sister, embraces the rare moment where it is in full agreement with its Eon Pokémon counterpart. It mimics its sister's actions and looks up at the night sky as well, eyeing no trace of the four of them whatsoever. "I actually wouldn't mind entering that tournament myself."

"Do you think there will be a next time?" Latias inquired. "Will they host a _third_ tournament after this one that they've put Mewtwo in?"

"Well…they said that that was their second ever tournament." Latios speculated. "Odds are that they'll continue hosting other tournaments from here. And maybe, if we have the time to, we could enter in it."

Both Eon Pokémon faced each other and grinned, Latias grinning more than its brother.

"That's very reassuring." Latias said with its teeth exposed from its smile.

Latios, not the type of Pokémon that emanated its emotions so brilliantly, simply nodded at its sister. "We should return to Arceus now to report what we've done."

"Okay, but can we pick up some pie while we're here?" Latias was shaking its body with glee, its stubby tail waving left to right with the motion of its body. "Mew brought up that mystical three-letter word, and I've been holding onto that topic since. It honestly won't be hard of me to get one. I'll just transform into one of those human females and purchase one from one of the bakeries below us."

Latios's smile disappeared at this recurring problem, and it rolled its eyes. "Honestly, Latias… How you haven't gotten sick of those human-made dishes—let alone, gotten _fat_ from them—is as much a mystery to us as what's to come in the distant future."

* * *

><p><span><em>24.4: Dragons Full of Order<em>

Location: Mt. Coronet (Spear Pillar)

Date: April 2nd, 2019

Time: 12:04 PM (Noon)

Within the summit of Mt. Coronet, the three Deities of the Sinnoh Region—Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia—stood facing the entrance of Spear Pillar. The site where the rift they made earlier—where Dialga threw Xeno Lucario into—no longer existed once they ceased to fuel it out of their combined powers.

All that remained were Lucario's party of twelve Pokémon, frozen in time, with their present monochrome coloring proof of Dialga's earlier influence.

All three of them turned their massive bodies around and looked down to face these twelve Pokémon that Xeno holds dear to his heart.

Both Giratina and Palkia face Dialga. But before they asked it to use its powers to reset them back in time, they paid full attention to the injury that Dialga sustained earlier from its brief struggle with Xeno.

"_That injury you've sustained hasn't stopped bleeding yet,_" Giratina noticed, eyeing briefly the blood that dripped down to the floor a few times out of the minute.

"_You haven't healed it yourself yet?_" Palkia suggested.

Dialga could feel the full extent of the injury that Xeno's FORCE PALM left on the right side of its face, directly between its right eye and the right side of its lower jaw. It could feel that its flesh had torn considerably there, not necessarily down to the bone, just deep into the skin at some points. The blood still dribbled from this wound and onto the floor, only having coagulated in some places, a sign that it's already healing well.

"_It's only a scratch,_" Dialga spoke seriously and truthfully. "_An injury like this is nowhere near enough to topple time._"

Dialga quickly eyed Lucario's assorted party of Pokémon, whom still remained frozen under the Temporal Pokémon's incredible chronological abilities.

"_I won't let this minute inconvenience stop me from accomplishing our mission. I'll reset their time now, and feign nothingness of this injury before them._" Dialga looked at both Giratina and Palkia. "_Are the two of you ready?_"

Both Pokémon eyed Xeno's temporally stagnant party of Pokémon, ready as they'll ever be.

"_Good._" Dialga muttered one word before doing the same.

The Temporal Pokémon effortlessly began to emanate aura within the diamond on the center of its chest plate. In doing so, all that it had to do was focus on the party of twelve Pokémon with its eyes. And with its power over time, the monochrome coloring that engulfed the twelve of them vanished, along with their place frozen in time.

All twelve of them are forced to take a moment to adjust to what occurred before they were frozen in time and after. To them, it was as if their memory had skipped, and they were unable to recollect what occurred in between.

However, they were all very quick in recollecting themselves, and immediately noticed the presence of the three Pokémon Deities of the Sinnoh Region: the Temporal Pokémon Dialga, the Renegade Pokémon Giratina, and the Spacial Pokémon Palkia.

"What the hell what that all about?!" Tyranitar, hot-blooded at their actions, was first to speak its mind.

"What did you just do to us?!" Luxray followed suit.

Dialga wasn't even fazed by their spite. "_I simply used my temporal abilities to prevent any unnecessary interference from the twelve of you._"

For the Pokémon in the group that placed logic over anger, they looked at the scenery of Spear Pillar, noticing quickly that something was missing.

"Where's…Giovanni?" Aggron droned an inquiry.

"_He was here moments ago,_" Dusknoir recalled.

"_But now he's nowhere to be seen,_" Metang's red, robotic eyes detected no trace of human presence anywhere.

"_I'm responsible for that, actually._" Palkia spoke up amongst the Pokémon.

"Did you do something to him?" Charizard responded.

"_I did, actually._" Palkia showed the slightest hints of a smile and satisfaction on its face. "_I bitch slapped him over the horizon with my tail._"

"Was he even a threat to you?" Aqua Lapras wondered.

"_With my abilities, he was no more threatening than a Magikarp flopping in the water._" Palkia said smugly.

Some of the other Pokémon in the party notice Xeno's _complete_ absence from Mt. Coronet's Spear Pillar.

"What happened to Xeno?" Terra Garchomp said, scanning its surroundings with its incredibly acute sense of vision. "I don't see it anywhere."

Wanderer Lucario quickly activates its Aura Vision ability and scans the entire area surrounding it, disregarding the aura that its comrades were emanating, as well as that of the three Pokémon Deities of the Sinnoh Region.

"_I don't detect its aura either. It's no longer present in Spear Pillar._" Wanderer said before disengaging its ability.

Giratina responds to this straightforwardly, without any need to conceal the truth. "_We sent it to another dimension, under our combined attributes of dimensional transportation, space, and time._"

The truthfulness of the Renegade Pokémon silenced most of Xeno's party. The only Pokémon that didn't seem surprised by this was Absol, only because its senses were hinting it of something that Giratina didn't tell them yet, or was leading up to.

"I can smell Xeno's blood within this area," Absol detected. "There are also traces of hemorrhaging on the stone floor."

All three Pokémon deities swiveled their eyes over to the blood stains that were present nearby them, never considering the thought that this could give enough evidence for them to speculate what occurred during their frozen state in time.

However, they knew well enough that they shouldn't try to conceal this anyway, because the three of them were given simple orders to be truthful to Xeno's party of Pokémon, while simultaneously being vague about certain delicate topics.

"How do you know its Xeno's blood?" Combusken decided to ask the Disaster Pokémon.

The irrelevance of asking a question with such an obvious answer caused Absol's solitary right eye to close halfway. "My Arceus, Combusken… Do you really need to waste your _breath_ asking me how I know this?" Absol faced the Young Fowl Pokémon with its serious countenance and a tone of voice to match. "I can distinguish the blood of a Lucario from that of any other Pokémon, because my past experience has _burdened_ me with the ability to do so. Do you still remember that, when I explained my back-story to the group, when I explained how I used to vindictively _murder_ any and every Aura Pokémon and Emanation Pokémon that I could find?"

Both Sceptile and Wanderer Lucario, being the _only_ two Pokémon that shared this bitter experience amongst this group of twelve Pokémon, seemed to express the biggest physical response from Absol's past out of everybody else. The two of them closed their eyes and vividly recalled those events.

They remembered that it began with finding Xeno Lucario as a Riolu infant, targeted by Absol, who wished to kill it in battle when it fully matured. Both Sceptile and Tiny—now deceased—trained Xeno to be able to defeat Absol, and prevent any further massacres from occurring. Wanderer travelled far—from Sinnoh's Snowpoint City to Kanto's Celadon Forest—to view this battle first-hand, alongside hundreds of other spectator Pokémon that received word of this occurrence, not knowing that its old friend Sceptile was there. During the battle, Absol explained that its actions were fueled from vengefulness, caused by its parents dying against other Lucario over territory. And in the end of the battle, Xeno Lucario killed Absol, which is now known to be false because it is within their party today, as a repented Disaster Pokémon.

Combusken didn't appear to be deterred by Absol's indirect affront at its strength of reminiscence. "So I didn't experience those dark actions first-hand. It's easy of me to overlook them."

Before Absol could argue over its personal past with Combusken, their time was up.

"Just drop that topic already," Sceptile hissed at them in mild annoyance. "We shouldn't be digressing now, _especially_ in front of these three Pokémon."

"_Your friend speaks the truth._" Dialga responded. "_We haven't even told you about the resistance that Xeno put up against us._"

All of the Pokémon loaned their ears—or their ability to hear _without_ ears—towards the Temporal Pokémon.

"_Xeno wasn't willing to go at first, only because its instincts acted first with violence rather than reason._" Palkia explained.

"_And that's only because I decided to freeze you twelve in time so that we could direct our full attention on it._" Dialga added.

"_It viewed both Dialga and I as enemies…_" Palkia continued.

"_…In an effort to remove my chronological abilities from you all._" Dialga mimicked.

"_Dialga had to bend time in its favor to flank Xeno and clamp down on its torso with its stalwart jaws in order to restrain it._"

"_However, Xeno proved resilient enough to detonate a FORCE PALM on the right side of my face, from pointblank range._"

Now Xeno's party of Pokémon listening to this conversation knew how Dialga received that bloody injury.

"_The pain of it all caused Dialga to reflexively clench its jaws, injuring Xeno forcibly and suddenly enough to cause it to fall unconscious._" Palkia pointed out.

"_Xeno was now subdued within my jaws in a manner I didn't originally intend._" Dialga said.

Giratina, having waited patiently for the moment where it comes in, explains the rest of their involvement.

"_I arrived here directly afterward._" Giratina concluded. "_The three of us, with our respective abilities combined for one task, created a warp in dimensions, space, and time, one where Xeno had to be transported to for urgent reasons. Dialga threw Xeno into that warp, and we closed it off, just before we knew our task was accomplished and Dialga chose to retune you back in time._"

A few seconds passed for Lucario's party of Pokémon to assimilate the information that they heard. And when they did so, they all immediately formed a battle stance, showing reasonable spite over the fact that they took their leader away from them, and that Dialga injured Xeno, regardless if it was unintentional or not.

Both Palkia and Giratina were quick to support Dialga's choice of actions.

"_There's no need for violence before us_," Palkia began. "_Xeno's injury is mild, and nothing that it can't recover from._"

"_There are reasons for our choice of actions as well,_" Giratina attempted to calm them down. "_If you can just hear us out, then you'll understand what we did._"

All twelve of Xeno's party of Pokémon relaxed somewhat, but still remained alert and on standby, in case they didn't like what they were about to hear.

Seeing this occur, both Dialga and Palkia walked back a few steps, knowing that this was Giratina's part now. Dialga, deciding that this was the best time to tend to its wound, focused its temporal abilities on the right side of its face, in order to drastically increase the rate at which its cells can rejuvenate and heal. From Palkia's perspective, it could see Dialga's flesh sealing off and healing at an alarmingly fast rate, one that was traceable by vision alone.

Giratina locked its eyes onto the pillar with the prophecy inscribed on it. And because it was the only one of the deity trio in possession of reasonable telekinetic abilities, used PSYCHIC to reconstruct it back to its original shape, in a matter of seconds.

All of the Pokémon once again noticed this same pillar held in shape by Giratina's PSYCHIC. Wanderer Lucario, having read the prophecy already alongside Xeno and assimilated its words as truth, could already feel the great weight of this situation, and begin to understand why these three Pokémon did what they did earlier.

"_As one of few Pokémon that has learned the archaic language of the Unown,_" Giratina began, before using its telekinetic abilities to lift that pillar, and place it directly in front of Wanderer, careful in setting it on the floor so as to not damage it any more than it already was. "_Translate the prophecy inscribed on this pillar once more, and recite it to your friends, so that they take this truth to heart and share in what you're feeling._"

Wanderer, feeling its body react to this pressing matter in the form of shallow breathing and a harder heartbeat, simply nodded at Giratina and then eyed the inscription on the pillar before it. "_It shall be bestowed with the key to unlocking the true potential of Pok__é__mon. It shall be the catalyst to shattering the limit of four moves. It shall know unfathomable power that will rival the Original One. It shall prevent the world from falling into the Void of the Dark One._"

Wanderer's colleagues did as Giratina said and were in fact taking this prophecy to heart. In doing so, they all realize that it is _clearly_ mentioning Xeno Lucario, for no other Pokémon in existence or that comes to mind—not any common variety Pokémon, not any _Legendary_ Pokémon, not even the Original One _Arceus_—perfectly fits into this prophecy as well as he does.

Xeno knew this _instinctively_ when he read the prophecy for the first time in his life, and Giovanni _eventually_ knew that as well, after witnessing the Aura Pokémon's potential first-hand—when Xeno was under his iron fist as an Admin of Team Rocket—and establishing that connection in time.

Giratina, as a last act of its telekinesis, set the pillar back in its original location, and fragmented the pillar's broken pieces back on the floor, gently so as to not crumble it any further than it is already.

"_All we did for Xeno was guide it in its destiny,_" Giratina said. "_Its path of the aura, you could say._"

Dialga, with its face fully healed by its abilities to manipulate time, stepped forward alongside Palkia and remained directly beside Giratina. "_We sent it to the world where the Void of the Dark One will originate._"

"What kind of world is it?" Aqua Lapras asked curiously.

Palkia decides to explain this world, but in brief and with only the core details. "_Put simply, it's a world that is parallel to this one. The only two differences between that world and ours is its placement in time, as well as its wildlife._"

"…Such as?" Aggron muttered, curious as everybody else is, and wanting a bit more detail on this topic.

"_That world is set about two millennia…in the past._" Dialga said, in its element with the topic of time.

"_The natural wildlife that inhabits that parallel world, when compared to this one, consists of powerless, plain creatures._" Palkia continued, "_None of which come close to us in terms of supernatural abilities._"

"_And yet…_" Giratina concluded. "_We sent_ _Xeno Lucario, the Pokémon of Prophecy that you twelve know as your close friend, your benevolent leader, and your righteous moral archetype, to that new world, regardless of its choice in the matter or not. Because if we _didn't_, then, the urgent matters that are growing by the second on that world will eventually consume it, spread across that universe and our own, towards _us_,_ _and obliterate anything and everything that is worth protecting._"

All of the Pokémon that listened to these telepathic words were beginning to understand this pressing matter, as well as the obvious sense of urgency that these three Pokémon deities were emanating.

However, the choice of actions overall was still a bit difficult for them to accurately grasp. They still had a few questions about this topic, one of them being…

"Why weren't all of _us_ sent alongside Xeno?!" Tyranitar asked brashly. "Whatever this 'Dark One' is, I'm sure we can all brawl with—I _especially_—alongside Xeno as a team."

The deity trio knew that this was one of many questions that would be unearthed at some point during this conversation. And when so much as one of them was mentioned, they felt as though the best action to take against this was to answer the question truthfully, as well as gravely, so that no premature assumptions or reckless actions would follow.

Giratina dropped its head to Tyranitar's height and looked at it square in the eye with a somber facial expression, one that suggested that you should think twice about your actions and act carefully when you initiate them.

"_As all twelve of you stand, you're out of your league and asking for a guaranteed death if you so much as _foolishly_ believe that your present strength is capable of matching that of the Dark One._" Giratina spoke at Tyranitar's face, but was targeting _everybody_ with its concrete word choice. "_To Him, you're all nothing more than beached Magikarp flopping on the ground. No, wait, I'm wrong. You're all _less_ than that at the moment. At least a flopping Magikarp will last longer, because it doesn't _possess_ a pugilistic drive._"

All of the Pokémon felt themselves sink a bit to the ground after hearing Giratina's honest opinion on their present state of being. Tyranitar however, felt as though it could still speak its mind on the matter, prove to Giratina—as well as both Dialga and Palkia—wrong.

Luckily, the Armor Pokémon had a surplus of martial experience to flawlessly distinguish when and when _not_ to fight, even if it conflicts with its natural tendencies to crave martial combat. It still knew when an enemy was feeble enough to fell, or strong enough to obliterate.

That being said, Giratina's honest response of the matter did raise a question to another one of the Pokémon.

"_Would you three fare any better?_" Metang inquired.

All three Legendary Pokémon expected this question once more and responded with a downhearted "_No_" in unison.

Upon hearing this, everybody grew perplexed. They couldn't fathom how these three Pokémon, with their great strength that is virtually second to none amongst the Pokémon race, are so sure about themselves at the fact that they don't stand a better chance against this "Dark One" than any of them.

"What makes you so sure?" Sceptile asked.

"_The Dark One is an entity that we don't fully understand,_" Palkia explained. "_We don't know what motives He might possess, or what _exactly_ He intends to do, with whatever resources and tactics that He might possess._"

Dialga continued where Palkia left off. "_All we know is that if Giratina, Palkia, and I were to fight the Dark One three-on-one, we would likely perish before so much as leaving any respectable damage on Him, _despite_ our incredible abilities over dimensions, space, and time._"

To hear these three Legendary Pokémon—Pokémon that have been blessed with the title "Deities of the Sinnoh Region" by people and Pokémon alike—deny _outright_ their capability to win against this opposing force, caused Xeno's entire party of Pokémon to grow apprehensive of this "Dark One" that they were beginning to learn about.

"_That's what Arceus, our Superior, has told us anyway._" Giratina concluded.

Unsurprisingly, _none_ of the Pokémon listening to the deity trio showed even the slightest hint of astonishment that the Deities of the Sinnoh Region were all under Arceus's command. From their past experiences, they understood Sinnoh mythology enough to know that Arceus Itself _created_ these three Pokémon, which in turn _created this world_ as it is known.

Also, now that they pondered about the earlier actions of these three Pokémon—where they transported Xeno Lucario to a parallel Earth from their own—, they all began to understand just how dire a situation this is, where Arceus _Itself_ has to get involved in something that could potentially become catastrophic.

"_Of course,_" Giratina resumed, recalling what the Alpha Pokémon has told it, and stating its honest opinion on the matter. "_Arceus might've told us that because we're vitally important in the grand scheme of things—considering how there's only one of _each_ of us—and doesn't want to put _any_ of us three at risk._"

"_It doesn't want to put _Itself_ at risk either,_" Palkia admitted, recalling from memory what Arceus has told the Spacial Pokémon. "_Because, long story made short, if Arceus is vanquished, then eventually Pokémon as a _race_ will follow alongside it, into the Void of the Dark One._"

Upon hearing this, all of the Pokémon in Xeno's party fell silent. They knew now, unfalteringly, that this upcoming threat is one where not just lives are on the line, but all of _existence_. They appeared hopeless at the truth, unsure what they could do within their feeble power to counteract—let alone _prevent_—the Void of the Dark One.

"_However,_" Dialga sensed their grim auras and knew exactly what to say. "_There's still hope against this impending crisis._"

All of the Pokémon listened on with rekindled faith at the three Deities of the Sinnoh Region.

"_The key to this hope resides on Xeno Lucario, the Aura Pokémon of Prophecy._"

Palkia continued from Dialga. "_The prophecy inscribed on that pillar, once Xeno Lucario fits in place as the target Pokémon of its divination, is much easier to understand and support._"

Giratina continued from Palkia. "_Let's begin with Xeno Lucario. According to that prophecy, Xeno will know unfathomable power that will _rival_ that of Arceus. That is to say that Xeno's power, when compared to that of the Original One, will be of the same potency, albeit branch out in various traits._"

Dialga continued from Giratina. "_However, as stalwart as Xeno has already become during its current age of twenty-six years old with eleven months, as hard as it is to fathom, its strength is still infantile and has yet to evolve._"

Hearing this, as Dialga stated clearly, greatly perplexed Xeno's party of Pokémon. They worked alongside their lifelong friend, experienced many challenges and hardships that have tested their strength time and time again, and were fully comfortable with the fact that they believed they had Xeno pegged and understood. But to hear that Xeno—with his vigor, with his brilliant expertise of moves that will remain eternally distant from his own species, and with the ability to learn said moves almost instantly—is practically a _baby_ in terms of growing power, left these twelve Pokémon with much to learn about the overall potential of their friend.

Before any questions could be muttered or pondered, the deity trio continued showering them with their cosmic wisdom.

"_And yet, because of Xeno's strong sense of amity, the burden of this situation is not its own to bear alone."_

All twelve of Xeno's friends almost knew what Dialga was going to say next.

"_The twelve of you, because the Pokémon of Prophecy holds you all so closely to its heart, may have involuntarily become the catalyst to removing the lock on your normal Pokémon limits._"

Twenty-two eyes widened—two for each Pokémon, except for Absol's remaining right eye and Dusknoir's single centered eye—upon hearing this.

Palkia decided to continue. "_According to that prophecy, Xeno Lucario is able to unlock the true potential of Pokémon, with the key that—we believe—is its personal affinity to those that it values and will selflessly protect with its life._"

A powerful memory played out within the minds of the Pokémon that met with Xeno during their brief careers in Team Rocket. They recalled how, when Giovanni stood in their way of escape, when the opportunity to do so was at its peak, Xeno stayed behind to stall him, so that they would all leave uninhibited. In doing so, they escaped from Team Rocket and from Giovanni, even though they primarily believed that Xeno was no longer to be seen again for his heroic actions towards them.

"_From our discreet observations of Xeno Lucario,_" Palkia said, without any restraint in admitting this, "_We can confirm that this applies to a total of _sixteen_ Pokémon that it values within its life._"

Effortlessly, the twelve Pokémon listening to Palkia's words knew _already_ of twelve of the sixteen Pokémon that the Spacial Pokémon was referring to.

Themselves.

The remaining four _unidentified_ Pokémon however, forced these twelve Pokémon in Xeno's party to huddle around each other into a circle and discuss amongst themselves which four remain.

Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia watched on at this ring of Pokémon huddled before them, waiting patiently for their minds to fit together the remaining pieces.

"It's painfully obvious that Palkia is referring to the twelve of us." Absol reminded everybody.

"But then…who of those four Pokémon…remain?" Aggron droned.

A few seconds of silence passed before half of this dilemma was answered.

"Latias and Latios, perhaps?" Sceptile suggested.

None of the Pokémon could see anything wrong with Sceptile's speculation, and agreed to it nevertheless.

"So then, which two Pokémon in Xeno's life remains?" Aqua inquired.

A few more seconds of silence passed where everybody pondered the missing two Pokémon of the sixteen that the deity trio referred to. This silence was inevitably broken when another connection was made.

"What about Mewtwo?" Luxray mentioned.

Once again, silence returned amongst the group, for digressed contemplation this time. They pondered to themselves how Mewtwo, during Xeno's time in Team Rocket alongside the Genetic Pokémon, _already_ rivaled Xeno in terms of strength, with its power focused more on sheer brainpower and psychic abilities rather than an impossible technique repertoire. They can't _begin_ to fathom how Mewtwo could grow any stronger, if it has a limit that can be broken, or is _already_ broken.

They also pondered how the two of them were connected in terms of friendship. From Xeno's perspective, he truly saw Mewtwo as his friend, someone who he supported and would _continue_ to support when necessary. In terms of actions towards it, Xeno was completely meditative and selfless, especially when he asked for a few favors from the Genetic Pokémon, the most notable favor was having Mewtwo accept Giovanni's proposal of three Pokémon—Dusclops, Luxray, and Tyranitar—, in order to strengthen Xeno's plans for Team Liberator.

On the other side of this spectrum however, Mewtwo's actions were far more pinpointed, and personal. For example, when Xeno asked for Mewtwo's aid in supporting his cause—which Xeno eventually explained to everybody in his group as time passed—, it seemed to _not_ care about escape at all. It only cared about power, about growing stronger, and it accepted Giovanni as the catalyst in accomplishing this, for as long as it lasted until Mewtwo understood the truth.

It still viewed Xeno Lucario as a friend and did help Xeno out when he requested it from the Genetic Pokémon, but perhaps the term "friend" was too powerful a word to describe their bond. The words "acquaintance", "colleague", and "teammate" better describe Mewtwo's viewpoint of its bond with Xeno. Because ultimately, from the experience of all of the Pokémon that worked alongside it in Team Rocket, Mewtwo cared primarily about _itself_, its goals, and its problems, much more than others in general, despite what actions it took upon first glance.

When it trained with the party of Pokémon that it was bestowed with, it was just as beneficial to _itself_ as it was to Xeno's cause.

"Xeno _does_ value it," Terra assumed. "And if that's to be taken in as truth, then which Pokémon remains?"

For Wanderer, only one Pokémon comes to mind that Xeno has a stalwart connection with.

"_Tiny Riolu,_" Wanderer said, the words itself weighing heavily in its telepathic voice.

All of the other eleven Pokémon looked at the light-furred Aura Pokémon as though it were crazy.

The deity trio listening in on this smiled at the fact that they pieced this conundrum together on their own.

"_Tiny Riolu?_" Metang droned. "_Are you sure? It's dead, and has been for years._"

Wanderer looked at the Iron Claw Pokémon, doubtless and sincere. "_I'm sure, because no other Pokémon meets Xeno's criterion._"

All twelve of Xeno's party of Pokémon, content with figuring out the remaining four Pokémon that Xeno treasures, disbanded from their ring formation and faced Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia as they originally were. The deity trio, upon seeing this action, strongly believes that all twelve Pokémon have figured out this problem, and decide to continue from where they left off.

"_Yes, anyway,_" Giratina resumed their conversation, "_For you twelve Pokémon that have worked so closely alongside Xeno, Arceus _Itself_ has assigned a task for you all to accomplish, a test to definitively prove that Xeno has unconsciously unlocked your true potential, and therefore are able to join the Pokémon of Prophecy in the great crisis at hand._"

All of the Pokémon listened on, practically feeling honored at this opportunity that they're receiving from the Alpha Pokémon, and willing to give it their all.

"_As you may know from Sinnoh mythology, Arceus's phenomenal power is centered on Its sixteen elemental plates._" Giratina explained."_Each of those sixteen plates grants Arceus with the type attribute that each plate represents. And when Arceus's innate Normal-Type attribute is included, the Original One is able to wield all seventeen Pokémon Type attributes at will._"

"Where are you going with this?" Combusken inquired, not quite seeing the purpose of this explanation yet.

"_I'm getting there,_" Giratina calmly responded. "_Anyway, these types of plates are as powerful as they are both arcane and archaic. Only a few sets are confirmed to exist. Arceus Itself possesses a complete set of all sixteen elemental plates, all of which form the symbiotic core and the origin of Its incredible power. Other sets that are confirmed to exist include the sixteen that are scattered across the surface of this Sinnoh region, as well as the sixteen that are submerged within the virtually unreachable watery depths of Unova's Abyssal Ruins. There have even been a few confirmed occurrences where individual plates have been unearthed from the Sinnoh Underground, but those are few and far between._"

All of the Pokémon listened closely at this information, already beginning to speculate where Giratina was going with this information.

"_What Arceus wishes for you twelve to accomplish is to locate the sixteen elemental plates scattered across the Sinnoh region, retrieve them from their hidden locales, and gather them all back here on Mt. Coronet's Spear Pillar._"

"What will this prove to Arceus?" Absol wondered.

"_This task will allow Arceus to analyze various key traits amongst you all that are vital for this looming crisis. The Original One, if you all complete this task at hand, will see you all display patience, persistence, leadership, friendship, adaptability, tactics,_ _and_ _power, just to name a few. And only then will It know for certain that you all have had your potential unlocked by the Pokémon of Prophecy, and are able to play your roles against the Void of the Dark One._"

All twelve Pokémon understood the weight of this task, and were in no ways deterred by the pressure of it all.

"_Knowing what's to come after this test, do you all still choose to prove yourself before the Original One, in order to confront this upcoming threat first-hand alongside Xeno Lucario?_"

Without so much as a second thought over the grave danger that looms in the future, all twelve of Xeno's loyal comrades nodded before Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia.

"_Perfect._" Giratina smiled and admired their valor. "_Arceus Itself should already be able to see your honest courage._"

"_Where do we begin?_" Dusknoir inquired.

Palkia continued where Giratina stopped. "_Your task begins right here, in Spear Pillar._"

All twelve Pokémon scanned their surroundings, unsure exactly what Palkia was referring to.

"_On sixteen of the pillars within Spear Pillar, there are instructions that accurately pinpoint the locations of the sixteen elemental plates scattered around the Sinnoh region._"

Wanderer already began to ogle each pillar individually, seeing that each one is written in the antediluvian language of the Unown.

"_All that you have to do is read the pillar's individual instructions closely, travel to the locations that they describe, and the rest is nothing more than a dedicated scavenger hunt._"

All twelve Pokémon understood what they had to do now, and were ready to act when this conversation was over.

Dialga suggested an idea. "_The way we see it, you'll complete this task quickly if you all travel individually for the first twelve elemental plates, and then as four groups of three for the remaining four._"

With nothing left to say in the matter, Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia activated their inherent powers and opened up rifts to their respective dimensions. The rifts of both Dialga and Palkia—blue and purple—were opened directly behind themselves. The rift for Giratina—pitch black—opened directly beneath its feet, on the floor of Spear Pillar, rendering the Renegade Pokémon to flap its ethereal wings to keep itself airborne.

Both Dialga and Palkia bowed their heads before the Pokémon of Prophecy's twelve closest friends, and then they stepped back to cross their respective rifts. Once they had entered their whole being back into their home dimensions, the rifts closed under their power, and no trace of their presence remained on Spear Pillar.

All that remained before Xeno's party of Pokémon was Giratina, who gradually began to descend within its respective rift in space and return to the Distortion World. Once Giratina's body began to cross the rift, the alternate atmosphere and gravity of Distortion World began to cause a physical change for the Renegade Pokémon. Its body began to glow a dark aura and shape itself into Giratina's Origin Forme.

All of Xeno's party of Pokémon watched as Giratina took its leave from this dimension and back to its own.

Before Giratina's head—and therefore its whole body—descended into the rift, it only said one word to Xeno's twelve friends…

"_Arceusspeed._"

…Before disappearing from view and closing the rift on the floor of Spear Pillar altogether.

Once silence returned to Spear Pillar, Wanderer looked at the pillars within its surroundings. Knowing now, from the words of the deity trio, that sixteen of them have the critical instructions for their assignment that Arceus has given to them, Wanderer proceeded over to one of the pillars, in order to decipher it.

The remaining eleven Pokémon watched on from a standby position, already accepting to heart having Wanderer Lucario as their second-in-command leader, especially because no one knew the language of the Unown better than it.

With this position of leadership that Wanderer Lucario _knew_ it now had, it only said rhetorically "_Where do I begin?_" before stopping at one of the pillars and deciphering the Unown's symbols at a comfortable pace.

* * *

><p><span><em>24.5: Villains Full of Spite<em>

Location: Rome (Emperor's Throne Room)

Date: January 11th, 60 A.D.

Time: 11:35 AM

_Drops of Poison/Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep & 358/2 Days OST/Yoko Shimomura_

_(Song Begins)_

Within the elaborate structure of Rome's central palace, within the Throne Room of the Roman Emperor, both Nero and the hooded figure—unmasked before him—resided privately.

The two of them were drinking wine during their conversation on tactics in attempting to bring down two of the greatest threats that the Roman Empire has ever known: Eduardo and Xeno Lucario.

During their baleful tête-à-tête, a few ideas were exchanged as to how to eliminate these two powerful freaks of nature, either individually or simultaneously. However, those brainstorms belonged to Nero, and most of them were far more detrimental to his resources—great as they were—and practically _suicidal_ to his ideas of a growing empire.

He remained strong-willed on the idea that he could overwhelm both Xeno Lucario and I with sheer numbers alone. The hooded figure quickly dropped the idea and then stomped on it until it broke, explaining it to Nero that great military numbers won't annihilate the two of them. Five hundred soldiers were no match for Xeno Lucario, and one-_thousand_ soldiers were just as easily brushed aside by Eduardo.

The hooded figure explains that adding more soldiers before letting them loose unto the two of us won't change the outcome of the matter. Nero could unleash ten-thousand soldiers, or even a _hundred-thousand_ soldiers unto the both of us, and the end result will be the same: another hollow victory for both Eduardo and Xeno Lucario, and further _wasted_ men in Rome's part.

Nero quickly thought of another idea, about how he should have soldiers with greater skill clash against them. The hooded figure remained blunt and straightforward in shattering stupidity. He explained once again that the outcome will be the same, primarily because of the fact that the two entities that Nero is choosing to clash with are anything but _ordinary_.

With their aura-based abilities, the hooded figure explained, they can kill any _normal_ opponent in a heartbeat. They can blow off the armor of their opponent in one second, peel away their skin in the next second, obliterate their muscle structure in the third second, and grind their bones into the dust in the fourth second, all with relatively little effort if they decided to.

What Nero has decided to clash with, as the hooded figure has made plainly clear to him, are two apex warriors with supernatural abilities, the likes of which are unfathomable for the human mind to comprehend and impossible to combat against fairly.

Nero finished his wine and set the goblet aside. "Alright, since you're so keen to put down my ideas when I so much as _ponder_ them," he said with defeat. "What do _you_ have in mind?"

The hooded figure finished his wine and set the goblet aside as well, smiling before Nero at the idea that he had contemplated. "My idea is simple in actuality, and will prove much more decisive in devastating Eduardo and Xeno _simultaneously_."

"Tell me then. I'm all ears right now." Nero listened closely.

The hooded figure's smile faded when he began to speak seriously before Rome's head figure. "You must _match_ power for power. You need to have warriors that can fight at their unbelievable magnitude of prowess."

"…" Nero remained speechless at what he was hearing coming out of this man's mouth.

"To do so, I gratefully request thirteen of your finest military minds, preferably that they be aspiring students within that Military School that you hold here in Rome. A fresher, malleable mind from a new generation of soldiers might prove more moldable than the minds of soldiers _already_ taught and in service. However, there should still be a leader amongst them, one who already has years of martial experience. One of these thirteen soldiers should be an active Roman General, and the remaining twelve should be under said Roman General's leadership."

A flood of questions entered Nero's mind, but he chose not to digress the hooded figure yet. "Of course, but…what do you plan on _doing_ with them?"

"I will _personally_ train them all into an elite fighting force, one whose combat prowess _rivals_ Eduardo and Xeno, right down to their aura-based abilities. This attack force, once I've molded them into the definitive image of war, will be your trump card in ridding this planet of the two most powerful enemies of Rome, the _only_ obstacles in your plans of expanding your empire any further than it already is."

An elite fighting force, one with the destructive might that could eradicate Eduardo and Xeno Lucario in one fell swoop, under _his_ command to do as he saw fit.

The mere thought of this made Nero refill his goblet with wine in order to enjoy a second serving. "How do you plan on creating this elite assault force?"

The hooded figure decided to have another serving of wine as well, and refilled his goblet with the sanguine cocktail once Nero was no longer doing so. "Let's just say that…I have my methods, and we'll leave that branching of topic undisturbed for now." He said before savoring the extravagant wine.

In reality, Nero was far more interested in the results of this idea than the methods involved, and dropped the question as quickly as he dropped the red alcohol down his esophagus. "How long will it take to have this strike force ready?"

The hooded figure finished his wine and then set the goblet aside once more. "One year, or perhaps thirteen months if I account for any potential hindrances," he admitted. "During that time, I recommend you don't do anything stupid to piss the two of them off any more than they already are."

"Agreed," Nero set his goblet of wine aside, directly alongside that of the hooded figure.

_(Song Ends)_

To end this discussion, the two of them shook each other's hands, content with their meeting and the promised results to come. However, before the hooded figure could take his leave, Nero still had a lingering question in mind.

"You know, I never got to know your name," Nero said. "What is it?"

The answer came immediately from the hooded figure. "I don't have a name, because I was born without one."

Nero raised a skeptic eyebrow at him. "(How can that possibly be?)" He pondered flatly.

"Rather than a name, I was born with a purpose in life, a purpose that the two of us have in common."

"And what would that be?" Nero responded with curiosity.

The hooded figure smiled maliciously. "That purpose is to open the very gateways of _Hell_ before both Eduardo and Xeno, and then casting them off through them, into a world of inescapable damnation."

Once again, Nero liked what he heard and smiled. "If thirteen months and thirteen soldiers is all you need to give them a one-way ticket to Hell, then I should've sought your service years ago."

The hooded figure stopped smiling long enough before his facial expression was shrouded by his black hood that he replaced over his head once more. "I'll be taking my leave for now." He said simply before turning his back on Nero and walking out of the palace.

Nero bid the hooded figure farewell before proceeding over to his throne, sitting down and contemplating what the world will see of Rome—and their _emperor_—after this assault force of thirteen Roman soldiers decimates Eduardo and Xeno Lucario.

He fantasized on the idea that centuries from now, history textbooks will give an autobiography on his legacy as the fifth emperor of Rome. Those books will describe his overall life in this position of power, highlighting his greatest achievement—the death of Eduardo and Xeno Lucario under his military forces—and making his very name immortal to future generations of the human race. In his opinion, that seemed much better than being described as a corrupt emperor, a tyrant over his people.

Or someone who decided to take the easy way out and commit _suicide_ before any assassins could dispose of him themselves. Someone who would slit their own throat before…

"(Huh…now where did _that_ thought come from?)" Nero questioned his mind when his fantasies trailed off on the idea of suicide.

* * *

><p><span>Location: Rome (City Streets)<span>

Time: 11:54 AM

The hooded figure, after taking his leave from the emperor's palace, simply walked outside and wandered to where his feet were taking him. Before he knew it, he had entered the bustling city streets of Rome, blending himself with the abundant people of the commerce.

This setting didn't spark any interest in the hooded figure. He just continued to stroll across the city streets. He walked past oncoming people as they passed by him, never looking at them in the eye or replying back with a formal greeting if anybody he passed by did so. And he didn't seem to acknowledge any merchants that attempted to get his attention either with the merchandise that they had to offer.

He just walked past all of this human normality, pondering to himself deeper matters, matters that will influence their little worlds, matters that only he and his superior are capable of unleashing.

"(Nero…)" He pondered to himself. "(You're even _easier_ to manipulate in my favor than Claudius ever was. With you, I didn't even need to resort to more…_decisive_ methods of influencing you. You may be a moron that will likely be crushed under the very citizens that you reign over, but until then, you will at least be a useful piece in the master plan of the Dark One.)"

* * *

><p><span><em>24.6: Heroes Full of Friendship<em>

Location: 28°N, 34°E (Solitary Tree atop a Hill)

Time: 12:30 PM

With nothing else to do during my absence, my brothers Costas and Ian simply stood by the shore of the Red Sea, the massive body of oceanic water that I flew directly over in order to reach an imprisoned Xeno Lucario at Rome. They stared on at the early afternoon horizon watching for anything within the sky that even _remotely_ resembled a fifteen-foot-long flying dragon.

"How long do you think Eduardo's been gone for?" Costas asked Ian.

Without anything proper to measure time accurately, Ian merely speculated. "I don't know…a couple of hours perhaps?"

The amount of time that Ian presumed had passed by caused Costas to assume the worst. "You don't think…that Eduardo was too late in coming to Xeno's rescue, do you?"

Even though the idea seemed preposterous because of the immense power that the two of them possess, the great amount of time that passed by could suggest otherwise.

"Do you suppose that…" Costas looked away from the sky to face Ian and continued speaking, "…Rome was actually successful in _killing_ Xeno? And with its death made known to Eduardo, do you think he's now leveling down Rome in unrelenting rage?"

Ian wanted to look away from the sky, face his brother, and deter him from this unnecessary doubt on the subject. However, before he actually did so, a very _minute_ figure in the sky could be distinguished amongst the abundant cerulean sky and the marine clouds that take residence in it.

Costas, seeing that his brother looked at the sky with a different light, looked back at the sky and quickly spotted something standalone from the norm.

It only took a few seconds for said minute figure to be better identifiable before both Costas and Ian. Before their eyes, they could see a white-scaled dragon in the far off distance, wide pallid wings flapping two times per second.

"When Eduardo arrives," Ian began to smile, already assuming the better of me. "You can rain your question upon him yourself."

Before their eyes, I sliced my way through the sky at Mach 3, speeds that are _unheard_ of for this time period. Within only a minute, I was flying directly above them, thousands of feet above the air, where the sonic boom caused by my flyby wouldn't reach them.

Once directly above them, I broke out of my sonic speed flight and began to descend down upon them at a rate of speed that I had full control of, my massive wings held parallel to the ground and aiding in my return to terra firma.

My brothers, seeing the draconic hulk of my present state of body about to land before them, stepped back slightly so that I wouldn't land directly _on top_ of them. Of course, I wouldn't for the life of me actually _do_ so, and odds are that my brothers knew that as well. They, however, felt the need to step back out of both caution and respect.

As well as (hope to) see the extra passenger that I was harboring.

When I was about ten feet from touching the ground, I flapped my wings a few times per second to slow my final descent. And with enough force—and body mass—to shake the floor for a split second, I land on the floor below me with all four limbs, before hoisting my upper body upright so that I stood bipedal before my two brothers.

They immediately scanned my entire body, hoping to see Xeno Lucario on my presence somewhere. But upon first glances at my massive, white-scaled state of body, they couldn't see any black or blue or yellow body part of him on me _anywhere_.

"**Is something the matter?**" I responded to my brother's fervent glares with my earth-rumbling tone of voice.

"Well…actually, yes…" Costas eyed every single white scale on my body, trying to find any blue fur that he knew wasn't my own.

"What happened to Xeno?" Ian almost hesitated to ask.

Their concern over Xeno's wellbeing was extremely understandable, because I pushed myself past what I appear to be capable of in order to attempt to save him. However, their darting eyes and apprehensive responses did leave me questioning their judgment, and I responded to this with guaranteed assurance.

"**Well firstly, Xeno Lucario's not dead. It's perfectly fine overall.**" I told them. "**I arrived—by the skin of my protruding teeth—to its rescue, and then gave it a ride back here.**"

My brothers, after hearing my words of promise, already speculated where Xeno was on me.

"Xeno Lucario is on your back, isn't it?" Costas assumed.

I simply nodded at his hypothesis and dropped down on all fours again, signaling Xeno Lucario with body language to dismount already.

Only…he didn't exactly respond to this.

Before I assumed Xeno had actually slid off my crested back during Mach 3 flight, I knew that Xeno was still mounted onto me. I could still feel his body resting on my back—thankfully with nerve endings that weren't damaged from past ordeals. However, when I concentrated more on _how_ he's resting on my body, I noticed one thing that he's doing.

He's _clinging_ onto me, with paws gripping scales like a vice.

Both Costas and Ian were already looking at Xeno Lucario before I did, taking to mind what they were seeing of him a few seconds before me. And when the three of us were properly ogling him—I having to swivel my neck until the tip of my snout was facing 180° _behind _me—, we all noticed his present state of mind.

Xeno Lucario was frightfully wide-eyed, unable to blink at the moment. He was flat against my back, stiff of body and trembling somewhat after enduring a flight speed that is three times the speed of sound. The paws on his front limbs and hind limbs were gripping tightly onto the scales on my back, likely for fear that he would've slid off at such ludicrous speeds.

"What's wrong with it?" Ian inquired.

"I think Xeno's in shock." Costas assumed, upon first glance.

"**Or on an adrenaline high,**" I believed.

Before our eyes, Xeno's grip on me loosens slightly. And in doing so, he slowly slid off of the right side of my back and fell on _his_ back, directly onto the grassy floor. His body relaxed a bit when he was on the floor, likely because he's somewhat thankful that he has finally hit ground.

"_Holy…crap…!_" He said with widened eyes glued onto the sky. "_You're…_ridiculously _fast…!_"

"**Are you alright, Xeno?**" I show concern for his present state of mind and body.

Lucario, stunned of mind and relaxing of body, looked at the three of us in the eyes and nodded. "_I'm fine… I'm just…calming down after that…_exhilarating_ ride._"

I remove my scaled hands from the dirt floor and regain my bipedal posture before positioning my tail within Xeno's arm reach. "**Do you need some help getting back up?**"

Lucario didn't say anything for a few seconds in order to regain his normal composure. "_Yeah, sure…_"

Once his paws were gripped on my tail for support, I hoisted him up in the air with zero effort, high enough for him to stand on his two feet again when he no longer needed to hold onto my tail.

Almost immediately, when Xeno felt comfortable standing bipedal again, both Costas and Ian suddenly embraced him in their arms. Both brothers, knowing well enough of the hazardous bony protrusion that resided on his sternum, hugged the Aura Pokémon from a different angle. Costas hugged him from the left side, while Ian hugged him from the right side.

Despite his eyes widening at their sudden choice of action to encircle him with their loving hold, Xeno Lucario did nothing to repel them. In fact, he put his arms around each of their backs, just as they did with him, because the emotional moment that was present now was appropriate and much needed.

Ever since Xeno first met Costas and Ian, he knew that they cared deeply for him. If they didn't they could've _fatally_ struck him when he was most vulnerable, when he first entered this realm under the combined power of Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia. But instead, they immediately showed generous hospitality for him. They took him in to the laboratory of their banished brother—into the laboratory that I've abandoned against my will—, tended to his wounds, and gave him food and shelter for his week-long stay on this remote town in the middle of apparent nowhere. And because of this selfless act from a pair of complete strangers, Xeno learned that some humans _can_ be trusted—Costas, Ian, and I—, and some humans can _never_ be trusted—Giovanni.

It would seem fitting then that Xeno repaid their kindness by warding off Mars's invading Roman legion when they arrived.

Now feeling left out at seeing this tender moment, I immediately wrapped _my_ massive arms around them, brought my head and neck down beside them, and embraced them as they did with Xeno. The only problem with this was that I had to bring them up to _my_ level of height. And with my heightened level of strength, holding the three of them in my arms and hoisting them up a body length in the air was virtually effortless in my part.

Thankfully, the three of them didn't seem to mind my addition to this group hug, especially with this current state of body. They embraced me—Xeno's liberator—all the same, for as long as the moment lasted.

* * *

><p><em>A few minutes later…<em>

_Finale/Halo 2 Volume 2/Martin O'Donnell; Michael Salvatori_

_(Song Begins)_

The need for a proper introduction between the four of us wasn't necessary in any way, because the four of us already knew each other well enough to already begin to regard each other as close friends.

So instead, I decided to ask the Aura Pokémon some questions that I wanted answers to. My brothers decided to listen in on this as well.

"**Xeno, before you grazed your razor-sharp claws across my human face,**" I began. "**How did you get your severe injuries from before?**"

"_I'd be more than willing to explain it to you all,_" Xeno said. "_But I'll warn you that when I'm finished, you'll be just as confused as I once was._"

"**I can handle it.**" I respond with outright confidence.

"_I'm sure you can,_" Lucario replied.

All three of us listened closely at the experiences that Xeno was about to recall before us.

"_The injuries that I miraculously survived from were caused by a man in a black cloak._"

Immediately, the eyes of my brothers and I widened when we realized who caused the injuries on Lucario.

"_…Did I just say something important?_" He assumed after reading our facial expressions.

"**A man in a black coat…**" I droned at the notorious identity that I knew Xeno was referring to. "**We've encountered that same person before.**"

"_I see…_" Xeno understood, but chose not to digress from his topic. "_Anyway, during our…_brief_ clash, he told me a few things, the most important being who he works for._"

"Who he…_works_ for?" Costas repeated Xeno's last four words.

"_Yes. Anyway, what this…uh…_" Lucario couldn't find a proper title to describe the nameless man in the black cloak.

"**Hooded figure?**" I toss one out for him, what my brothers and I have been referring him by, ever since I first encountered this sable anomaly.

"_Why not,_" Lucario simply shrugged his shoulders at this. "_What this hooded figure told me was that he works for his superior, the Dark One._"

"The…Dark One?" Ian repeated Xeno's last three words.

"**I've honestly **_**never**_** heard of this 'Dark One' before,**" I told Xeno.

"_I'm honestly not surprised._" Xeno understood if there was any secrecy involved in the hooded figure's part. "_But what I _am_ surprised about is what the hooded figure told me that the Dark One sees of me._"

"Do tell," Costas was listening attentively.

Both Ian and I were doing so as well, knowing how important this information was starting to become.

"_If the hooded figure's words are to be believed, then the Dark One sees me, the 'Pokémon of Prophecy', as a threat to His plans of global conquest._"

Two eyebrows—one from each of my brothers—and a scaled eyebrow-like protrusion—myself—were raised upon hearing this. Our eyebrows were raised not because we assumed this to be a boast from Xeno. It couldn't be anyway, because the experience in his part was too precarious and life-threatening for him to lie about any part of it.

Instead, they were raised because this "Dark One"—an entity that none of us know in any key details—views Xeno Lucario, the "Pokémon of Prophecy", as a genuine threat. For reasons why _exactly_, we four could only failingly speculate until we all have solid—and likely _treacherous_ —leads.

"**There must be something special about you, for the Dark One to name you as a great danger before His plans.**" I said. "**Of course, I wouldn't know how powerful you pose to be against the Dark One, until I've been in my brother's shoes and seen your abilities first-hand.**"

"_I can say the same about you,_" Xeno smiled and digressed slightly to give his truthful opinion on me as well.

I smiled back at him, but only the emotional aspect was taken in, because the _physical_ aspect of my smile would just come in as nightmarish to most.

Lucario resumed where he left off. "_I can say that I know for _certain_ that I'm a genuine threat against both the hooded figure and his Superior._"

"What makes you so sure?" Ian inquired.

"_Because before the hooded figure left me for dead,_" The Aura Pokémon looked at Ian. "_He explained to me my _entire_ life story, right up to the moment where we first met._"

Upon hearing this, I recalled the recent moment in time where the hooded figure stood before my brothers and I within my underground laboratory, where he told me the name "Xeno Lucario" and a few key points about the Aura Pokémon.

"**Then these antagonistic forces at work are very stalwart, for them to know everything there is to know about you.**" I said. "**And for all we know, much stronger than we currently stand.**"

"_You're absolutely right,_" Xeno assured me. "_Of course, even though we're unsure of the forces at work in the shadows—or exactly _how_ stalwart these forces are exactly—, I know that I'm involved in this, from the prophecy that I recently learned _involving_ me._"

The three of us listening in on Xeno never removed our ears from him, unable to now because of the decisive information he was telling us.

"_It shall be bestowed with the key to unlocking the true potential of Pok__é__mon. It shall be the catalyst to shattering the limit of four moves. It shall know unfathomable power that will rival the Original One. It shall prevent the world from falling into the Void of the Dark One._" Lucario recited the prophecy, word for word, as he had already accepted it to heart and to his drive.

"**The Void...of the Dark One?**" I muttered the secrecy that this topic presently held over us.

"_The forces at work that sent me here are confident that I can fulfill that prophecy._" Lucario explained. "_Unfortunately, I haven't the slightest idea where to begin. And I don't think they do either, or else they would've told me on the spot._"

"**Well, I know one thing, where you **_**shouldn't**_** begin.**" I explained. "**Because of the fact that you survived your conflict with the hooded figure, we can immediately deduce that the strength of the hooded figure is equal to—if not **_**greater**_** than—your own, and likely **_**my**_** own as well.**"

Both Costas and Ian looked at the two of us with an unsettling amalgam of disbelief and dismay. They know from first-person viewpoints of our abilities in unchained action that the two of us are _easily_ the most powerful individual beings on this planet.

For there to be these forces at work, with powers _greater_ than those of Xeno and I, under our radar and plotting life-changing matters, quickly left the two of them unable to properly picture this greater scheme of things.

"_And with the Dark One as his superior,_" Xeno added. "_He's likely _beyond_ the strength of the hooded figure, and resting on levels so mind-bogglingly absurd that we can't so much as scratch Him before dying._"

Despite the sheer weight of this matter, how there seems to be no hope whatsoever to counteract this, I didn't choose to cave in under the pressure. I didn't wish to sit idle and wait for the day to come where the world knows the Void of the Dark One.

And neither did my brothers or Xeno.

I crossed my arms and pondered our altered future. "**If that's the case, then all we need to do is **_**strengthen**_** ourselves beyond our current level of power, to combat this looming threat, and prevent this 'Void of the Dark One' before it's made known to the world.**"

At first, all three of my listeners looked at me as though I spoke impossible nonsense. However, when they pondered the matter over—Xeno Lucario especially—with bit more open-mindedness and imagined how this idea would hold up in the future, they realized that it's the only method that we have to even _hope_ to act against the hooded figure and the Dark One.

"_If this is our only tactic against the Void of the Dark One,_" Lucario looked at me in the ash-black eyes. "_Then the burden of this impending threat won't just be yours or mine to bear alone._"

Now it was my turn to look at him with the same look that they gave me earlier. "**What do you mean?**"

Xeno Lucario looked away from me and eyed both Costas and Ian, with sanguine eyes that immediately became golden eyes, caused from the immediate activation of his Aura Vision ability.

With his eyes now seeing the aura that surrounded all physical objects, seeing and comprehending the aura of my brothers was effortless for him.

Both brothers felt slightly uncomfortable at seeing him looking at them the way he was doing so right now, with auric eyes that stared deep into the soul and dreadlock-like appendages that vibrated like dragonfly wings, humming obnoxiously on both ears, and meeting in the middle.

"_You may not know it until now, but the aura that I've been sensing from the two of you is exponentially _greater_ than those of average human beings._" He said before disengaging his Aura Vision ability.

Both my brothers and I were astonished to hear Xeno say this.

"Are you saying…" Costas found it somewhat difficult to speak through his sudden surprise. "Are you saying that…both Ian and I are capable of amazing aura-based feats, such as the two of you?!"

"_Absolutely, but all that's needed is proper training from an experienced teacher._" Xeno said with a small smile formed on his face.

It only took a couple of seconds for my brothers to realize that Lucario was also saying that he was willing to teach them what he knew.

"But…what's compelling you to do so?" Ian wanted a reason for an important matter as this.

Lucario just answered truthfully to this matter. "_It's just out of an act of kindness, from one friend to another._"

_(Song Ends)_

* * *

><p>Before we begin to contemplate any ideas as to where to begin with our future training, Xeno Lucario still has one key detail he has yet to play before us, the trump card within his memory that would permanently alter our viewpoints on the targeted subject.<p>

"_Hang on a minute! There's still one last topic that I need to explain._" Lucario said before looking at me. "_And Eduardo, you of all people—or _dragon_ in your present state—should know this._"

"**And what would that be?**" I asked with curiosity.

"_The _facial_ identity of the hooded figure._"

Without so much as thinking about it, I knew that this was vital information, since the hooded figure has been hiding under a shroud of mystery from us since we first met, and knowing anything as to what he looks like would prove imperative to us in the long run.

"**Xeno, I want you to explain his countenance to me in as much detail as you possibly can.**" I suggested. "**Leave no single detail to chance. I want you to paint me a mental picture, with a thousand words if you must.**"

Xeno understood the tone of urgency in my deepened voice, but knew that in this case, fastidious detail wasn't necessary.

"_I understand your need to know this, but I actually don't need to go into unnecessary detail on his identity._" He assured. "_Because with only five words, I can _perfectly_ describe what the hooded figure looks like._"

Knowing what was coming next, I could feel my massive reptilian heart beat slightly faster from anxiety. "**I'm ready.**" I tell him.

He simply shook his head and denied my confidence. "_No you're not. Not for this._"

And so, when Xeno Lucario finally described what the hooded figure looks like…

"_He looks…_"

…All that I could feel was my body growing numb from the truth.

"_…just like you._"

THE PATH OF THE AURA: INTERTWINING CROSSROADS

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

><p>"I don't know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future." —Ralph Abernathy<p>

* * *

><p>And with that my fellow readers, concludes the very first FanFic that I've submitted onto this website.<p>

Personally, I'm quite proud of the work that i've put into it. And even though there are probably a few typos or inconsistencies here and there if took a bit more time in proofreading though it all again, I can always correct those on a later date, when i have a bit more free time to do so.

And before I sign off with a smug grin on my face, I should point out a couple of things.

First things first. Even though I said that this chapter is the last one, the one that concludes the story of "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_", there's still one LAST chapter that I must upload after this one. And that chapter is the "Afterword", an EXTRA chapter where I give my personal thoughts and processes relating to this story, one where I put a few things, things that I've kept in the dark and never explained, out into the light and into focus. Such things would include my song choice, my future plans, etc. And that chapter, I plan to put up within a few weeks from now, so that I can TRULY end this story of mine as properly as I can.

The other thing is that, even though i've never done it before, I've put up a couple of polls on my profile, two important ones that relate to my sequel FanFic. The first poll asks a simple question. If Eduardo and Xeno Lucario ever clashed in battle, who would emerge victorious? The second poll asks if you would want to see "Chapter XIX (19)" of "_The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms_" divided into two halves or not. Whatever answer you select for the second poll will influence how I upload it in the future. I can either upload the whole chunk of a chapter at once, a chapter that is 47,000 words in length (which is actually LONGER than many other FanFics by themselves!), or divide it into two, much more manageable halves, the first half uploaded and then the second half uploaded about a week or so later.

Personally, I can see you all wanting me to put up a massive chapter, all at once, so that you don't have to wait. But I want to know your opinion, and I will follow that opinion, once I end both polls at a later date.

And with that, I can safely conclude with the following phrase, mostly because I'm due for a small vacation, what with concluding my first FanFic and going through finals week at my college:

I AM GOING TO DISNEYLAND!


	25. Afterword

Hit Count: 4,779

With the main story complete to my first FanFic, all that I have left to post is this "Afterword" chapter. Within this chapter, you'll get a behind-the-scenes glimpse as to what made me write this story, as well as learn a few things about myself, something that is a bit lacking from my Profile page.

So without further ado, cross over the line below whenever you're ready.

* * *

><p><strong>Afterword<strong>

_25.1: Setting and Timeline_

Why did I choose Saudi Arabia for the location of the home village for Costas, Eduardo, and Ian?

If I recall from early memories when I was first formulating this FanFic, as well as legitimate history on the Roman Empire during the year of time that I had set, their conquered territory _almost_ spanned into Saudi Arabia, and was within reach of it. I just chose an area that appeared to be in the middle of apparent nowhere, while still retaining significant purpose to my main protagonists.

It's either that, or I just chose a random locale for the starting point of my story, one that Eduardo would jump off from in due time, yet still value enough in his heart to come to its aid.

Why did I choose "Celadon Forest" for Xeno Lucario?

It's an early memory and it doesn't matter too much to me now, but Xeno had to start _somewhere_. I believe I chose "Celadon Forest", a forest that is above Celadon City—or at least that body of trees that map images of the Kanto region depict—, because it was in the Kanto Region, and I did want to incorporate Team Rocket as a turning point for Xeno. And I know Team Rocket has its origins in the Kanto Region.

Why 33 A.D.? Why 1993?

For Eduardo's timeline, it was originally some rejected idea about the time at which Jesus Christ died. But when I thought about 33 A.D, I realized that it's a good time placement for some key events that occurs in Rome. If anything, it also brings an unusual idea to a Pokémon FanFic. I don't recall reading a Pokémon FanFic, or any other FanFic, where the Roman Empire is heavily inputted.

As for Xeno Lucario's timeline, well that's actually something _personal_ of mine that I inserted into the story. 1993 was the _year_ that I was born, and then May 2nd was the _date_ that I was born.

So I was born in May 2nd, 1993, and I thought it appropriate to put that in as Xeno's date of birth.

That also means that, at the time that I uploaded this chapter, my 20th birthday is nearing. But that's beside the point.

_25.2: Character Choices_

Why did I choose these select Pokémon in my FanFic?

The answer to this question should come naturally to me, and should be simple enough for my readers, or anyone in my position, to logically understand. The Pokémon I chose to put into my FanFic are Pokémon that, out of the impending 700+ known Pokémon that Game Freak have made, I like the most. Those are the Pokémon that I wanted to make memorable as my progress on my "_The Path of the Aura_" series continues.

Why did I choose the Pokémon Lucario as my primary character?

I chose a Lucario as my main protagonist for the simplest of reason: it's my favorite Pokémon out of Game Freak's growing list of cockfighting critters. That decision was immediate to me when I first heard of that Pokémon through the eighth Pokémon movie, _Lucario and the Mystery of Mew_, as then later when I heard it was going to be a playable character in _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_. And from both that movie as well as that critically-acclaimed video game (of which I love to death), I saw traits in Lucario that I favored.

Perhaps that's why I have _two_ Lucario in my story, as well as a Riolu.

However, even though it's my favorite Pokémon _period_, I don't like the idea of settling on just one of _anything_ and then classifying it as my solitary favorite, leaving anything else in the same category alienated and ignored. I don't do this to music, to video games, to food, to collectibles, etc. And I choose _not_ to because I dislike the idea of having just one favorite. Instead, I favor a top [insert random number here] list. And in the case of Pokémon, Lucario is #1 on that list, while the other Pokémon characters in my FanFic—as well as any that I will either highlight or _add_ in the future—are on that same list as well.

The only recurring downside to this that I've seen from this in my life experiences is that it leaves me finding it difficult to select one from many if anybody ever asks me what's my favorite [insert specific topic here].

Why isn't there any Unova Pokémon in my story?

To keep this answer short and simple, because I began writing my FanFic _long_ before the first details about _Pokémon Black _and_ Pokémon White_ were made public and absorbed into my memory, starting with the unveiling of Zoroark, the Illusion Fox Pokémon.

The exact date when I typed in the first words of "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_" will be mentioned further down. Just know that it wasn't August 31st, 2011. It was much earlier than that.

Why did I choose Team Rocket as Xeno Lucario's main antagonist group?

If I decided to have Xeno originate in the Kanto region, then I should have the greatest organized evil in the area be set as the antagonistic forces against him. In doing so—aside from the opportunities that it presented that I took advantage of—, I can also put in Mewtwo as a bonus, because it's in Team Rocket as well.

Also, I can work with the Genetic Pokémon in ways that will eventually make it invaluable in the future of my writing. Because, and believe me when I write these next few words down, I have BIG plans for Mewtwo, plans that are just as important as those involving Eduardo and Xeno Lucario, plans that will astonish you when they come into light.

And apparently, so does Game Freak, what with Mewtwo's new and interesting form, as well as the _Extreme Genesect – Mewtwo's Awakening_ movie.

I can't wait to see that.

If I have Team Rocket, Giovanni, and Mewtwo in my story, then why don't I have Jesse, James, and Meowth as well?

As was the case with Mewtwo, I found a way to incorporate its _actual_ history alongside ones that I created to "fill in the blanks". In other words, I intertwined the unknown blanks of its story—ones that I've filled in for the sake and fun of my FanFic—, alongside the history that _Pokémon: the First Movie_, _Mewtwo Returns_, _Super Smash Bros. Melee_, and eventually the Pokémon movie _Extremespeed Genesect – Mewtwo's Awakening_ gave it.

Because of my choice in keeping the history of certain key characters unchanged, Jesse, James, and Meowth were not prominently inserted in my story, and only mentioned as a flashback that Mewtwo had.

Besides, aren't they off trying to (failingly) catch Ash's Pikachu, acting like incompetent clowns in the process? They're hardly ever around Team Rocket's stronghold, and never there for long, because they mostly follow Ash and his friends wherever he travels.

Thankfully, they're _far_ more deserving of the title of "villain" when they entered the Unova region. They're more serious with their occupation than they originally were.

The same thing can't be said for Ash Ketchum though, the Pokémon Trainer that has Charlie Brown's ability of static age. It's astonishing how moronic he still is, even after 16 years since his Japanese animé debut. I still respect him deeply though, but with my growing age—as well as those of anybody—comes the need to question what all of us love and hate.

The biggest question with Ash Ketchum is how 16 years of potential character development have apparently gone to waste.

Why Costas and Ian?

There's _personal_ history with these two characters for me. When I was in high school, these two were my closest friends. The three of us would hang out very often. Sometimes, we'd play _Mario Kart DS_ alongside other good friends and welcomed people for a full eight-man race—which was _hectically_ fun! Other times, we'd go to the school's computer lab and play _Halo: Combat Evolved_ against other students, or even against online players at times—which was equally as fun! And when it wasn't video games, it was often other computer-related tasks, or simply just to talk.

I owe a lot to both Costas and Ian, especially since the two of them introduced me to some helpful topics that I've made the most of over time. Ian introduced me to manga, which eventually led me to know the _Pokémon Adventures_ manga. And Costas helped me how to obtain mp3 files and play them on my smart phone or on my computer.

I know for certain that they're great friends that I'll remember my high school years fondly of. That's why I had Eduardo's brothers be named "Costas" and "Ian", as tribute to them.

Why Romans as Eduardo's main adversaries?

What compelled me to make a Pokémon FanFic that has Romans within it? I believe this started when I was first pondering ideas for this FanFic, during my sophomore year World History class. During the lectures on the Roman civilization, I realized how important they were when their ideas and concepts are reflected today. They created the first _professional_ army, they obtained their water through intricate arches that covered long distances, and some of their government ideas are present within the U.S. Government today.

Simply put, I was heavily interested in Roman history, which is why it forms a bit of a backbone in my story. And it will continue to be so for some time later.

Why "Team Liberator"?

It was the first name that popped into my head when I pondered a name for Xeno's small resistance group. The name is succinct, obvious, and blends well with the "Team" theme that recurs in Pokémon.

Sounds somewhat like Team Plasma, doesn't it. Though the main differences between the two is that Team Plasma is _evil_, releasing people's Pokémon so that they would face no opposing resistance in taking over the world, while Team Liberator is _good_, managed by Pokémon and with the intent of returning mistreated Pokémon back into the wild.

_25.3: Name Choices_

Why did I go with the username "GameManiac"?

Simply put, I play a lot of video games when I'm not at work or at college, or when my younger brother is on the computer instead of me, so that I'm unable to work on my FanFic until it's my turn. That's where the "Game" in GameManiac comes from. The "Maniac" in GameManiac comes from the Pokémon Trainer classes in the main game series, such as "Poké Maniac", "Bug Maniac", "Ruin Maniac", etc.

Why did I go with the title "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_"?

"The Path of the Aura" sounds like a specific form of destiny, while "Intertwining Crossroads" represents the inevitable merging of the "Eduardo" and "Xeno Lucario" sides of my FanFic.

However, I didn't settle on a title for my FanFic until the day came that I decided to upload onto this website, and that was when I was already about _halfway_ into my story, which also means that I began writing this FanFic much earlier than the Publishing Date specifies (but more on that further down).

The way I was writing this FanFic, I left it without a main title until I had already progressed enough into it, to see and review the plot that I've devised, and _then_ decide what to title it, just shortly before uploading the first "Prologue" and "Parallel Prologue" chapters onto this website.

After pondering sufficiently—as well as researching on Google to see if my title choice was already taken in some way or not—on what original title I wanted for my FanFic, I settled with "The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads" as the main title for my first FanFic.

And as you can tell with my upcoming sequel FanFic, "_The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms_", I'm sticking with "TPotR"—which sounds like "Tea Potter" if you speak its abbreviated form.

…

…

…Yeah, I'm not going with that. I'll just stick with "_The Path of the Aura_" because I'm not lazy in typing it all out.

Why did I give nicknames to some of the Pokémon in my FanFic?

Some people choose to give nicknames to their Pokémon, while others don't. Some nicknames are sophisticated or clever, while others are asinine and stupid. Personally, when it comes to giving nicknames to Pokémon, I do so at times, and I don't do so at times.

The Garchomp and Lapras in my story—also known as "Terra" Garchomp and "Aqua" Lapras—are two of the five Pokémon that I've given nicknames to. And if my memory is accurate, I simply gave them those fitting nicknames to further personify their natural type attributes.

It's either that, or I gave them the names of two of the three main protagonists from _Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep_. The answer to that question depends on your affinity for the _Kingdom Hearts_ series.

As for "Tiny" Riolu and "Wanderer" Lucario, their nicknames are obvious and an extension of their physical character. Tiny is a small Pokémon as is—only 2' 04"—, so the nickname is fitting. Wanderer was once a nomad, before settling in on a more permanent location after departing from its homeland in the Snowpoint Mountains.

It's either that, or the _northernmost_ mountains of the Mt. Coronet Mountain Range. Take your pick, depending on your viewpoint of the Sinnoh region's topography.

And lastly, there's "Xeno" Lucario.

As Giovanni made clear when he originally bestowed Lucario his nickname of "Xeno", the reason was because of the shroud that resided over Xeno's overall martial potential, one that he (failingly) wished to make his own.

That was _his_ reason anyway, but not Yours Truly, the author of this story.

A subtle hint was left when I had Mewtwo read _Ender's Game_, the first book in Orson Scott Card's Ender series. For the fans that have read the book—or any, some, or _every_ book in the series—, then they'll know that the nickname "Xeno" comes from Orson Scott Card's third published book in the Ender series: _Xenocide_.

It's either that, or you bothered to look up that word in the dictionary, where it is described as being a prefix for "alien", "strange", "foreign", "unknown", etc. Take your pick.

Why did I choose the names Costas, Ian, and Eduardo?

The names "Costas" and "Ian" originate from my closest friends from high school, but the name "Eduardo" originates from _me_.

In other words, my _actual_ name is Eduardo.

However, before I have any thoughts of narcissism directed towards me, the choice of inputting my name to one of the two main protagonists of my FanFic was _primarily_ for the _meaning_ of that name.

According to my research on Google, the name "Costas" is a Greek variation of the name "Costa". The meaning of the name is "constant", "steadfast", or "persistent". As for "Ian", its origin is Hebrew and the name means "God is forgiving".

So while the name "Costas" does well to describe the character imbued with it, the name "Ian" doesn't appear to on first glance. Then again, that wasn't my original intention. Only for "Eduardo" is that the case.

The name "Eduardo" is an American accepted, Spanish derivative of the Old English name "Edward". And in various languages—such as English, Portuguese, and Spanish—, the name "Eduardo" means "prosperous guardian", "rich guardian", "wealthy guardian", or just plain "_guardian_".

Does anybody see, from Eduardo's actions in my FanFic, _why_ I chose this name and imbued it upon and alongside his character?

And I say _he_, not _me_, even though we share the same name.

_25.4: Overpowered Protagonists_

Why did I make my two main protagonists so absurdly powerful?

Okay…so what _else_ is now?

Is it so surprising to see this, not just in FanFiction, but in _any_ form of entertainment? I personally don't think so, if it is done right anyway. And by "right", I mean "eventually".

I'll give a few examples. Take these three animé series: _Bleach_, _Dragon Ball Z_, and _Naruto_. The main protagonists of these three popular animé series—Ichigo Kurosaki, Son Goku, and Naruto Uzumaki—started out as budding strength, who were either given great power to temper in time through intense training or experiences, had hidden power that came to light in a life-threatening situation, or both. And since their beginning, no one would believe that they'd grow to become so powerful, unless they did an about-face to their past after growing accustomed to their future.

The same holds true for both Eduardo and Xeno Lucario. They started out as seeds of raw and undiscovered power, left buried in metaphorical dirt to grow and develop. And after a few critical storms of life experiences had passed by, the water and lightning that they shed for these seeds to assimilate have allowed them to grow into budding plants, known to those that have taken notice.

And if the cycle continues, then these same plants will tower over the earth as massive trees, to appear to onlookers below as stalwart, iconic, and majestic.

Of course, these things take time, and there's always the chance that a tree is targeted to be chopped down, whether it has reached its prime or not.

That's the case with both Eduardo and Xeno Lucario. Their sheer power, be it destructive at times or helpful at others, is also targeted by those that are willing to challenge it, with the resources that they might have.

_25.5: Orson Scott Card's _Ender's Game

Why did I have Mewtwo read _Ender's Game_?

The reason for this is simple. I love his books and felt it appropriate to insert his first book somewhere in my story. The best place that I could think of was for one of the Pokémon to read it. And I chose Mewtwo because it appears to be a Pokémon that is always seeking knowledge, and then assimilating and storing it like a massive hard drive.

Why do I like _Ender's Game_?

To properly answer this question, I have to look back to where I first heard of _Ender's_ _Game_. And in doing so, I have to tell you a little story.

It was during my high school senior year where I first heard of that sci-fi novel. For my English class, my teacher gave each of us students a book assignment for winter break. The book we were supposed to read was supposed to be from a list of 100 books, all of them approved for an advanced placement English class. And from the book that we checked out, we were supposed to write at least ten pages of notes that summarized what we read—written "proof" that we did the assignment and knew _exactly_ what we were reading.

So when my class and I went to the library to search for our book of choice, we all looked through the list to find the book that most interested us. The list was alphabetical by the title of the book, and included the author's name, as well as a description of their book.

I looked through the list of books, scanned through their respective descriptions, and didn't find a single book that I found interesting for a few pages in. It wasn't until I reached the "E" portion of the list that I found _Ender's Game_. And the brief description that the book had—which I eventually realized was taken straight from the back of the book—is as followed:

"_Intense_ is the word for _Ender's Game_. Aliens have attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed the human species. To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses—and then training them in the arts of war… The early training, not surprisingly takes the form of 'games.'… Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games… He is smart enough to know that time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet?" —_The New York Times_

Since this was the first book on the list that interested me, I decided to check it out for my winter break assignment. And sure enough, as I was reading through it, I wasn't disappointed in the least. I enjoyed every page of the book, the setting that the book took place in, and the incredibly deep messages that the book had for its readers to decrypt. And despite the fact that my winter break lasted for about sixteen days, I finished the book—a 320+ page book—in only _three_ days. My proof in completing my assignment is _twelve_ pages of notes that I took as I read, as well as an urge to read the rest of the books in his series—which, in time, I did.

I could go into detail on what the book is about, but I believe it's better for you to read the book _yourself_ to comprehend the artful words that it holds, the brilliance within its pages, the genius behind the author that wrote it, and why I use specific sentences within the series as quotes for the end of each of my chapters.

Maybe you have read _Ender's Game_ already for all that I know, or plan to read it, either because I indirectly recommended it or you stumbled upon it in some other way. And maybe you've also heard about it being made into a motion picture, which is due for November 1st, 2013.

_25.6: Writing Style_

What type of author am I?

Just based on my first story, I've found my strengths and will stick to them for as long as I write. I appear proficient in writing "action/adventure", because I know how to maximize the attributes of that genre, especially with the detailed battles that I've come up with and worked on. I know how to give individual characters personality and purpose, by themselves or alongside others, so the genre "friendship" is appropriate. And my writing style, it often times appears to be detailed and sophisticated, sometimes liberally and rarely to the point where a dictionary is needed.

At least the upside to using a dictionary at times is that you learn a new word or two, and I don't drag my story on with common and feeble word repetition.

What are my pros and cons as a writer?

My pros as a writer, as some of you have already pointed out, is how well I depict battle scenes, how intricate and absurd my level of detail can reach for any given battle. The upside for me in doing this is that it's somewhat easy for me, especially because I put a lot a thought in how I want these scenes to play out, during the time that I'm _not_ writing and left to imagine.

I know how to establish an intricate story, describe in enough detail to satisfy the five human senses—when applicable—, and build up suspense when necessary.

And to top it all off, I'm seriously determined and don't plan on stopping anytime soon, mostly because I've pondered how I've already formulated within my mind just where I'm going with my FanFic series.

And what about my cons as a writer?

When I think about it, I find myself having difficulty toning down my writing in certain situations. In other words, I find it difficult to play "stupid" or "simple" because it contradicts my primary writing style. Another con that I can see is that it does take me a while to write all of this. I see myself writing at a rate of 500-1000 words a day, sometimes more if I'm not distracted and/or have a writing impulse.

Or maybe writing that much is a _pro_ instead of a con, though it varies on the person.

Still, the bottom line is that _quality_ is more important than quantity. After all, what good is writing a 340,000+ word story—an accomplishment of its own in my honest opinion—if it isn't _engaging_ to the readers? An author's job is to create a compelling story, one that leaves his/her readers satisfied with every new chapter, and hungry for the next. An author's job is to make the reader _care_ for their characters, to share in their emotions, to question them, to comprehend their thinking and their reasoning.

And as a writer, I believe I've accomplished that to the best of my ability.

_25.7: "Immortality" and "Aura" Openings_

Why did I open up my stories with a brief description of this?

Does anybody still remember those two openings, how I started Eduardo's "Prologue" chapters with an opening describing immortality, and how I opened Xeno Lucario's "Parallel Prologue" chapters with an opening describing aura? I did so because they'll apply in the long run of my writing, as key concepts.

And with my drive to keep on writing, the only charge I ask from you all is your patience.

_25.8: The Epic Battle between the Aura Pokémon and the Disaster Pokémon_

How did I do it?

As with most stories that require a heated clash between two opposing forces, a lot of thought and planning is needed to make it a reality. Some brainstorming is needed, and perhaps a rough draft of it all.

However, with the first third of my story, I wasn't writing brainstorms that'll help me know what goes on each chapter. I only started doing so after "Chapter IV (4)". The chapters before that were entirely from scratch, written as the ideas came to me.

So that _whole_ battle, which I believe—alongside a couple of other people—is the best battle that I have in my story, both in length and scale, was _completely_ improvised as I went along with it.

Makes you think what else I have in store, doesn't it.

_25.9: Finished Chapters Ahead of Submitted Chapters_

Why did I decide to do so?

There are actually a few reasons behind my choice in having more finished chapters ahead of my submitted chapters. The reasons behind why I chose to do so will only be clear when I explain them.

The first reason is when I first _began_ to write my story.

According to my story, the date on which I submitted my first chapter is on August 31st, 2011. However, I didn't actually _begin_ writing on that date. I actually began on _July 5__th__, 2009_. And when I uploaded the first chapter to my story on this website, I was already about to begin writing "Chapter XII (12)".

Why did I upload my first chapter _twenty-five months_ later after writing it?

The truth might be a bit shocking at first, but I originally _never intended_ to make my FanFic known to curious eyes. In other words, I originally kept it to myself, and wrote as much as my free time would allow. And as selfish as that might seem, it was more of a case of "guarding" what I've written from criticizing or questioning eyes rather than "keeping it to myself" for time eternity.

What made me decide to submit my story in the first place?

The further that I progressed on my FanFic, the more the thought gnawed at me that I _should_ submit it to this website, because I knew others would enjoy the work I did and appreciate it. So eventually, I finally accepted this growing urge, created my FanFiction account, submitted the first chapter of my story, and have never regretted it since.

Another reason I decided why is because, the way I see it, my writing style appeared to be a bit more _sophisticated_ when compared to other authors on this website. My discipline in how well I've written to the best off my ability makes my story stand out in terms of structural rigidity and proper grammar. My use of songs and end quotes makes my story stand out by leaving bits that go past my story. And the sheer _quantity_ that I've written makes my story full to _bursting_ with content.

The bottom line is that I take FanFiction _very_ seriously. If I didn't then I wouldn't have put my heart and soul into this story.

_25.10: Due Date for Future Chapters_

Why do I set a date where I'll submit my next chapter(s)?

Is it too common on this website that you don't hear anything from [insert author's username here] when it comes to adding a new chapter to [insert author's FanFic title here]? Don't you hate it when a story that you're reading is so good that you want to know how it ends, only to have the author lack the discipline in _finishing_ it?

I've noticed that too often, and I've done my part in _not_ doing that.

I set a date on my next chapter(s) because I have the discipline to take a few minutes of my time to update my profile. I don't like having my fellow readers in the blank on when my next chapter(s) arrives, so I set a rough time frame on when my next update will occur.

And while I'm at it, I also regularly update my profile with the progress that I've made on any chapters that I've yet to submit.

Some authors can learn from my example.

_25.11: Use of Grammar_

Why do I make certain words stand out?

Have you noticed how I use _italics_ for Xeno Lucario's telepathy, **bold** for Eduardo's speech while in dragon form, UPPER CASE for Pokémon techniques and synthesized speech, (parenthesis) for thought, and both _underline and italics_ for Elemental Aura techniques and recommended songs, just to name a few? Of course you have, because they _stand out_ from the basic writing format.

Why do I do so? For one thing, it's much more noticeable to scroll down through my whole chapter to find a few key words that I need. For example, I can easily look for Xeno Lucario's utilized Pokémon techniques—alongside Eduardo's Elemental Aura techniques—and update my profile with this new information. I can look up the songs that I used and then hunt down their existence on YouTube. I can identify my subchapters and update my profile with them.

For another thing, it was a habit that I acquired when I read a fair amount of FanFiction a few years back before writing my own. For example, I noticed that in many _Super Smash Bros._ FanFics, whenever they had Lucario speak with telepathy, some authors would often set it all in italics. Since plenty of authors do so, and because it stands out, I felt it appropriate to do the same.

And all of this is made much easier for me through Microsoft Word.

_25.12: Use of Songs_

Why do I put songs in my FanFic?

The obvious answer to this question would be because music is single-handedly _phenomenal_ in amplifying the mood of a situation. However, that's not my only reason in doing so. I do so because, out of the few dozen stories that I've read from other authors, I can only recall one or two that have highlighted a song to use, and it's usually just one song within the entire FanFic.

One reason I do this is because it makes my story stand out further from the others, which is something that most authors attempt to do if they want to be noticed.

Besides that, there's another, more _personal_ reason in why I choose to use songs in my story.

Why did I choose _these_ songs over others?

If you've listened through each and every song that I felt was appropriate to insert in certain situations of my story, for all that I know, you've probably thought that I had an unusual taste for music. Whether you think that or _don't_ think that, _I_ definitely think that, especially when I talk to other people about the music that we listen to.

And how do I know that I think that?

Well firstly, for _me_, when it comes to music on the radio, I just think that the vast majority of it is just plain mediocre and obnoxious. Only a small handful of songs that I've heard on the radio are ones that I like, and that's _only_ because I have those songs saved onto my 32GB MicroSD card on my smart phone, as well as backed up on my laptop computer—in case either one gets damaged or stolen and then I have to backup my personal files.

Secondly, have you actually paid attention to the songs that I decided to include on my FanFic? Out of the _forty-five_ that I put in my story, an astonishing _twenty-two_ of them are songs from the _Kingdom Hearts_ series, nine of them are from the _Pokémon_ series—two from the animé franchise and seven from the video game series—, five of them are from the _Halo_ series, three of them are from Linkin Park—with one of those three being a fan-made piano version—, two of them are from the _Final Fantasy Tactics_ series, one from _Naruto Shippuden_, one from the _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ soundtrack, one by System of a Down, and one from _The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music_ album.

What I find interesting about this is how well it reflects my taste in music, especially those that reside in video games. For example, when it comes to music from the _Kingdom Hearts_ series, I am sold on considering it my favorite video game music. The soundtracks of the series alone are well known by those who are into video game music, and the composer behind the series' soundtracks—Yoko Shimomura—is someone that I would consider a modern day Mozart of video game music. Most of the songs in _Kingdom Hearts_ effectively blend emotion with a fairy-tale aura that leaves my ears euphoric with every track that I listen to, and the boss battle tunes _in particular_ are some of the most epic and memorable pieces of music that I've ever heard. And I'm proud to have listened to _each and every one_, of which I _have_ on file. I have _all_ of the songs from _all_ of the _Kingdom Hearts_ series, including those two piano album compilations, all according to Wikipedia.

As I continue to write, the songs that I choose to put will follow as well. And for those that enjoy this, I can safely say that there's no shortage in sight.

What songs do _I_ have on file?

What I meant by "no shortage in sight", I was referring to the fact that the songs I feature are songs that I have saved onto my 32GB MicroSD card. And I have a sheer, practically _ludicrous_ amount of songs on file, far too many to individually list.

To summarize what I have to the best of my ability, I should begin with different categories.

In terms of music artists, they're as followed: ACDC, Arcana, Coldplay, Deep Purple, Disturbed, DragonForce, Electric Light Orchestra, Elvis Presley, Europe, Green Day, Linkin Park, Metallica, Michael Jackson, Queen, Radio Head, Styx, and System of a Down.

In terms of movie soundtracks, they're as followed: A Bug's Life, Avengers Assemble (both the original motion picture soundtrack and the inspired music soundtrack), Cars, Finding Nemo, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda (and its sequel), Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, Star Wars (all six _current_ episodes), The Incredibles, The Land Before Time, The Lion King, The Matrix Revolutions, Titanic, Toy Story (all three movies), Up, Wall-E, and Wreck-It Ralph.

In terms of video game soundtracks (a literal _shitload_ of them!), they're as followed: A Bug's Life (the PS1 video game), Drammatica -The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura-, Final Fantasy (only the "IV", the two "Distant Worlds" albums, and all three Tactics games,), Gran Turismo, Gyakuten Saiban/Phoenix Wright (all of them, even the Gyakuten Kenji/Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, except for the Japanese Phoenix Wright film), Halo (all of the video games soundtracks and even the one for Halo: Legends), Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Kingdom Hearts (all of the video game soundtracks, and even the two piano albums), Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, Mario & Luigi (Superstar Saga, Partners in Time, and Bowser's Inside Story), Need for Speed IV: High Stakes, Okami, Pac-Man World 20th Anniversary, Pokémon (Black and White, Black 2 and White 2, Conquest, Diamond and Pearl, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen, Gotta Catch the Sound, HeartGold and SoulSilver, Platinum, Reorchestrated: Kanto Symphony, Ruby and Sapphire), Portal, Professor Layton (Curious Village, Diabolical Box, and The Unwound Future), Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, Super Smash Bros. (both Melee and Brawl, and even the _Smashing…Live!_ album), Star Fox (64 3D, Adventures, Assault, and Command), Subarashiki Kono Sekai/The World Ends With You, Super Mario (3D Land, 64, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, Sunshine, and World), Symphonic Fantasies -Music from Square Enix-, Symphonic Legends -Music from Nintendo-, The Greatest Video Game Music (and its sequel), The Legend of Zelda (Hyrule Symphony, Ocarina of Time 3D, and Twilight Princess), Toy Story 2 (the PS1 game), Trauma Center: Under the Knife (and its sequel), Video Games Live, and Video Games Live: Level 2.

*Gasp* I'm not done yet!

In terms of animé (and in one case, cartoon) soundtracks, they're as followed: Bleach (Beat collection, Breathless collection, both Concept Covers, the four Original Soundtracks, The Best, and The Best Instrumental), Dragon Ball Kai (Complete Song Collection, Original Soundtrack, Original Soundtrack 2, Song Collection, and Soundtrack III & Songs), Dragon Ball Z Hit Song Collection (from one to twelve only), Dragonball Z American Soundtrack Best of Dragonball Z (all of them), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (all of the songs in the current three seasons, even the full opening song and _Japanese_ versions of the opening songs), Naruto (all three Original Soundtracks, The Very Best Hit Instrumental Version, and the Best Hit Collection II), Naruto: Shippuden (both Original Soundtracks), Pokémon (2.B.A. Master, 3: The Ultimate Soundtrack, Christmas Bash, Gotta Catch 'em Live!, both First Movie soundtracks, Movie 2000, Sound Anime Collection, World, and X: 10 Years of Pokémon), and Sword Art Online (the Bonus Disc: Original Soundtrack Vol.1).

…Okay…now I'm done.

So, aside from a fair amount of scattered songs and albums that I won't bother listing for time's sake, this is what I listen to on a daily basis. The songs that I acquire continue to increase on a regular basis, so long as I still have room within my 32GB MicroSD memory card, and my present smart phone doesn't lag on me to the point where I should stop for now.

All in all, the amount of songs that I have exceeds 5,500! And if I were to listen to each and every single song without taking a break, it would take me _nine days_ to do so!

_25.13: Use of End Quotes_

Why do I use these at the end of my chapter?

Aside from pointing out where the exact end of my chapter is, I use these for a couple of reasons. One reason is because I've yet to see another author do so. Another reason is because, if I find the proper quote, it properly summarizes the overall moral and theme within the chapter.

And almost all of the quotes that I've utilized are from Orson Scott Card's _Ender_ series. This alone should reflect how much I enjoy his books, if I'm able to find plenty of quotes from those pages on my own reading.

And I've only made a dent on the surface on the hundred or so quotes that I have on file.

_25.14: Use of Roman Numerals_

Why do I use Roman numerals?

Firstly, the _setting_ _itself_ calls for it. In Eduardo's side of "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_", his time period is set during the time where the Roman Empire is stalwart. For me _not_ to use Roman numerals would be a mental lapse in my judgment.

That, and there's another reason why I use Roman numerals.

As a child I grew up with watching the movie franchise _The Land Before Time_. And while I won't go into details on the movies themselves, I learned about Roman numerals _firstly_ through the amount of sequels that they have. As it stands, that franchise has up to _thirteen_ movies—XIII—and even a brief TV series consisting of about two dozen episodes. And while I no longer watch the movies with as much fervor as I once did—mostly in part of my growing maturity with age, and the fact that they appear to have stopped—, _The Land Before Time_ still holds a special place within my childhood heart.

I know the _Kingdom Hearts_ series uses Roman numerals as well, with their Organization XIII characters. However, the _Kingdom Hearts_ series came second into my life.

_25.15: Use of Pokémon Pokédex Descriptions_

Why do the Pokémon that matter in my story have a Pokédex description to introduce them?

Just because _I_ know the _Pokémon_ series like the back of my hand, and just because I can name all 649 Pokémon by their appearance, doesn't mean that _everyone_ can. The way I see it, adding their specifications just saves you the trouble of looking up their respective Pokédex description yourself, especially if you know very little about the Pokémon that I highlight.

_25.16: Rating Choice_

Why "T" instead of "M"?

Through a few of my chapters, it would seem that I've strayed a bit from the comfort zone that my rating choice implies. The two biggest examples of this was when I had Xeno Lucario gut those Team Rocket grunts before his capture, and when I had Eduardo do the same with Mars.

With gore like that, why isn't my FanFic rated "M"?

Firstly, despite the intense action I attempt to depict, that level of carnage is only seldom done. There's definitely blood and killing, but I only rarely describe it as graphically as an R-rated film would.

Secondly, there's no descriptive nudity or pornographic behavior involved. Of course, it's not even _close_ in my style to do that. And even if I did and took a gamble at it, I would be banned outright from this site for putting in such content. And with the plans that I have for "_The Path of the Aura_", alongside the drive that I have to continue, doing such a thing is just plain imbecilic in my part.

Thirdly, the _expletives_ I use are kept at a "T" rating. I can get away with using the words "bastard", "bitch", or "shit" because my rating allows me to. However, I can't _directly_ use the words that are present in an "M"-rated story—such as the "F-bomb", or that four-letter "C" word that is used to imply female genitalia—unless my rating reflects that.

Besides, the upside to keeping it rated "T" aside from "M" is that my story appears on the list _without_ you having to tweak the rating search so that it shows stories from _all_ ratings, besides "K" to "T". That way, my story receives the most amount of attention possible.

_25.17: "S-Rank" Inventions_

Why do they exist in my story?

I stated at the very beginning of "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_" that Eduardo's a bit of a manufacturing genius, having various tools and inventions that he's assembled in solitude.

However, those "S-Rank" inventions are ones that possess that title for two primary reasons. The first reason is the sheer amount of work required in making them. An example of this would be the S1-GS device, which requires a sustained _black hole_ to function properly. The second reason being that their practicality in various situations is either great or unbelievable.

These "S-Rank" inventions, both new and old, are definitely a mainstay in my story.

How did I come up with the S1-GS ("Grand Storage Sphere") device?

The origin of this idea of mine actually came to me _years_ before I started writing this story, when I was around eight or nine years old. The basic functions that the S1-GS device possess that I've described _now_ were more or less the same as they were when I _originally_ came up with it. However, there are a few noteworthy differences.

Back then, the name that I had for it was "Mega Ball", the aesthetic appearance didn't reflect that of the GS Ball, and there was no sustained black hole within its core. But when I was starting to write this story, and Eduardo was manufacturing his first "S-Rank" invention, I felt it appropriate to dust off that childhood thought of an infinite storage Poké Ball and insert it into my story.

It fit in so well, and I did it right in my opinion. All that I did was give it a more technologically appropriate name—from "Mega Ball" to "S1-GS"—and a more unusual method to infinite storage.

As for the design, it was to pay homage to the somewhat lackluster GS Ball, that Poké Ball that left viewers of the Pokémon animé questioning why they just decided to abandon it.

For those that recall that GS Ball in the animé, the answer to that question can be found on bulbapedia, in case you don't know why they just abandoned it.

How did I come up with the S2-PTSDO ("Different System") device?

The design _alone_ is an obvious reference to Nintendo's insanely successful DS handhelds, and the "omni-computer" part was my expansion on a device that I can't seem to live without.

I definitely wanted Eduardo to have a powerful computer that could prove invaluable in various situations, and I thought the Nintendo DS design has the perfect blend of compact size and iconic design.

The S2-PTSDO device originally resembled the _original_ Nintendo DS system—of which some people lovingly call it the DS "Phat"—, and then resembled the Nintendo DSi when it achieved v.2.

Maybe with "_The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms_", I'll probably give it a v.3 where it resembles the Nintendo 3DS.

Why? Because I'm a die-hard Nintendo fan like that, and I'm showing my support to Nintendo in an unusual way.

How did I come up with the S3-OSS ("Optical Surveillance Sphere") device?

Just as the S2-PTSDO device is an obvious homage to the Nintendo DS, the S3-OSS device is an obvious homage to the Poké Balls in the _Pokémon_ series. However, that's only one aesthetic reason, and there are a couple of others that I'd be happy to explain.

Another reason that I created the S3-OSS devices is for Eduardo to have reliable eyes in the sky, for situations where they are absolutely vital, such as when Eduardo discovered Xeno Lucario held prisoner by Nero in the center of Rome.

Of course, any invention needs versatility in its use, because it would be criminal of a genius to _ignore_ that.

For the S1-GS device, it isn't _just_ an irreplaceable, infinite storage device. It's also a potent assimilation weapon, when the situation calls for it. For the S2-PTSDO device, its more than just a super computer, it's an _omni_-computer. It's a powerful device that can adopt, assimilate, overshadow, and take over the functions of other technological devices.

And as for the S3-OSS devices, they aren't just for long-range observation of the world. They are also capable of Mach 2 flight, due to their Auracite structure, and internal circuitry of nano-compacted electromagnetism technology. And if done right, these devices can be _ridden_ by anyone that can hold on to a couple of them, at whatever range of speed that they're comfortable with.

As my story progresses, the versatility of these "S-Rank" devices will do so as well. The upside to this is that I actually have a few ideas up my sleeve on how to further evolve existing "S-Rank" devices as I introduce new ones.

How did I come up with the S4-BW ("Bio-Welder") device?

For the _only_ chapter that it has—for the moment—made an appearance in, the idea of the device was actually off of the top of my head. Because when I wrote that chapter and attempted to contemplate an instantaneous, yet believable way in recovering Xeno Lucario from his ordeal with the hooded figure, one idea was what I worked with.

The idea was this: a welder that doesn't weld metal, but _living tissue_.

And looking back at it, I believe it was a rather ingenious idea that had a bit more sophistication than having Eduardo use Green (Healing) Aura on him. Firstly, it's a lot faster than using stitches to suture Xeno's wounds shut, especially when you consider Xeno's Steel-Type attribute. Secondly, there's was the possibility that Eduardo couldn't _heal_ all of his lacerations before his Elemental Aura abilities depleted on him, especially with the vindictive battle he had prior to healing Xeno's injuries. And lastly, I never had specified if Eduardo was capable of using Green (Healing) Aura on anyone besides himself.

How I can _expand_ on such a device is something that I should take the time to ponder later, as my FanFic progresses.

_25.18: Elemental Aura_

How did I come up with Eduardo's main strength?

When I was pondering what type of power my Eduardo protagonist should possess, I pondered a few criteria that it should meet. It should be original or outstanding to the reader, it should evolve over time, and it should have its strengths and weaknesses—so that it doesn't come about as another omnipotent, overpowered protagonist.

The idea of Elemental Aura, when I came to first molding it, was one that I actually have a bit of fondness over, because it has the _variety_ attribute that I often favor in whatever actions demand it. With Elemental Aura, the user can command a variety of set attributes: fire and ice, light and darkness, water and lightning, earth and wind, etc. The user can grow more experienced in Elemental Aura over time as well. And the key strength in Elemental Aura is its multiplicity, the options that it gives the user, allowing them to maximize the need to exploit whatever situation that the user is presently in. And the main weakness in Elemental Aura is the fact that it is limited to how much aura the user is willing to pay to utilize it.

And I say the vague word "user" instead of the definitive "Eduardo" because, in time, I don't just wish to have Eduardo be known as the only user of Elemental Aura. In time, as Eduardo grows more and more familiar with this mysterious power of his, he should have Elemental Aura pegged to the point where he's able to _teach_ it to compatible students.

The key words here being "in time" and "more familiar".

_25.19. Profile Content_

Why do I use my Profile page to expand my story?

Some authors use their Profile page to either briefly or lengthily describe themselves, their passions, their hobbies, etc. Other authors leave their Profile page blank, thinking that it isn't necessary.

What I chose to do with my Profile page is a bit different. I chose to use it as a method in expanding my story, with topics that I felt the reader might need a better understanding of. And topics that I feel meet that criteria are those of my "S-Rank" inventions, Xeno Lucario's move pool, Elemental Aura, and even a Table of Contents page—which conveniently has links to the songs that I've chosen, as well as subtitles and end quotes.

The only drawback to doing this is that, eventually, my Profile page will grow _too_ large if I continue to do this. And if that happens, then I should consider removing certain topics that I no longer need—such as that one that describes emotions that coexist with aura colors—from my Profile page.

And if I do that, then I need to put it somewhere else instead of deleting it, so that it doesn't confuse any future readers.

_25.20: Vague Topics_

What's the point of the prophecy?

Firstly, that prophecy that I made came off of the top of my head. Secondly, it was something that Wanderer Lucario mentioned during the "Parallel Prologue" chapters of my story, and was likely forgotten until I highlighted it when I needed to.

Anyway, the point of the prophecy is to foreshadow bigger events that will eventually come into play, events with dire consequences that can mean the end of everything. I created that prophecy so that the main characters that read and understood it know what's coming in the future, and can prepare to retaliate.

So because of that, it would be criminal of me to stop writing right there and leave you frustrated at the fact of never knowing what happens next.

Why did I specify "two pupils" for Claudius?

I'll just keep this brief. It involves the hooded figure, and his "influence" that he specified on "Chapter XVIII (18)". Eventually you'll know why as my story progresses, or you'll guess correctly and feign astonishment when I reveal it.

What kind of back-story does Eduardo and Xeno Lucario have?

As odd as this might seem, both of them have a considerable amount of back-story that, in time, I'll make clear. The reason for this is because, despite what _is_ known about them, there's still a surplus that _isn't_ known about them.

For Eduardo, its _how_ he acquired his defining traits—his Elemental Aura abilities, his unbelievable acumen, and his dragon form. And for Xeno Lucario, it's how he became the Pokémon of Prophecy.

The truth might just shock you, when I get to it.

Why did I include Master Hand and Crazy Hand?

I almost _didn't_ include them in the first chapter that they appeared in. I originally decided to leave Mewtwo on its own, with the _Melee_ tournament being nothing more than a clinging, important memory for it when Mewtwo would shine under the spotlight again.

However, as I pondered how important of a character Mewtwo is, I simply can't abandon the idea of the _Melee_ tournament. Its biography was fun to work with, especially the parts where I "filled in the blanks" to the best of my abilities. So why can't I take it a step further and go there?

The only problem I can see in doing that is that it might seem a bit _dated_ to do so, what with _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ and the impending—and likely _glorious_—_Super Smash Bros._ games for the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U systems.

But you know what? If I do it right—and I _will_ do it right—and do it creatively enough, then I don't care, and neither should you, especially if you enjoy it.

What will be of Giovanni's Team Rocket criminal organization now?

The last that was seen of Giovanni in "_The Path of the Aura: intertwining Crossroads_" is him sailing across the sky after Palkia smacked him outright with DRAGON TAIL.

And as is commonly the case with Team Rocket, they're as persistent as cockroaches, and will return with a vengeance.

Who is the "Dark One"?

Aside from what is already known about Him, I really can't say anything further than that. Perhaps you can figure it out before His reveal, or perhaps not.

Who _really_ killed Eduardo's parents?

There's a list of suspects to that, but that's for Eduardo to figure out as the story progresses. I will not say who because it spoils the surprise, and will ruin the flow that I'm making as I continue to write.

Because in due time, all of the questions will have their answers.

From a personal point of view, who am _I_?

My name is Eduardo. I'm a 20-year-old (after May 2nd) man that presently goes to college, working on acquiring my Associate's Degree in Veterinary Technology.

I collect Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading cards, selling the extras that I amass in great quantities on eBay (under the similar username of "gamemaniac7509"). Quite recently, I decided to abandon collecting Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards and I'm presently selling them all on eBay, so that I can solely focus on my Pokémon card collection. And as it stands so far, I've probably surpassed 15,000 cards, having collected half to most of the Pokémon cards of most present sets, and easily valuing a couple thousand of dollars. I've even completed the first six English sets: Base Set, Jungle Set, Fossil Set, Base Set 2, Team Rocket Set, and Gym Heroes Set.

I play a lot of video games on my Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U systems, when I'm not in college, progressing in my FanFic, or working at Subway. The games that I'm presently playing are as followed for each respective system.

For my Nintendo 3DS, I'm playing _Pokémon Black 2_, working on acquiring all 200 of the medals within the game. Alongside that game, I'm also playing _Professor Layton and the Last Specter, Xenonia_ (a DSiware title)_, Mario vs. Donkey Kong_ (a GBA game rewarded for 3DS Ambassadors), and _Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World Championship 2010: Reverse of Arcadia._ Of course, I also have about a dozen DS, 3DS, and downloaded games that I bought and plan to dust off soon, which include _Kid Icarus: Uprising_, _Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, Resident Evil: Revelations, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, Liberation Maiden_ (a 3DS eShop title)_, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, _etc.

For my Wii U, I'm playing _Super Mario Galaxy 2_, _Nintendo Land_, and _Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition_. I plan on playing _Metroid Prime Trilogy _and_ Metroid: Other M_ as well, two games that I won on eBay and yet to have played.

I'm an evolving "brony" who only recently began to collect the comic books series—after finishing through all three seasons of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" on Netflix—and plan on buying some of the cute little figurines and trading cards as well. I already bought a pair of over ear headphones off of eBay as well during the beginning of the year. They have Rainbow Dash's overall color scheme and cutie mark on them, work _better_ than Dr. Dre's $200 _rip-off_ Beats headphones (I compared them to those that my brother _used_ to have before they broke on him), and cost me only $42.

Better still, they were on sale when I purchased them on eBay as well. They were originally priced at over $50, but the seller put on them a _20%_ discount. (If you're a fan of the show, then you'll make the connection there almost instantly. And if you have, I congratulate you with a "/)*(\").

I _still_ use them today, and I hope they last me as long as I want them to.

_25.21: Future Plans_

What will I write next?

I did say that I'd write a sequel, and that won't change. As for what exactly will "_The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms_" cover? Well, let's start with what we already know, or what I've made clear.

For Costas, Eduardo, Ian, and Xeno Lucario, they're about to have a lesson on learning how to wield aura from the Aura Pokémon. And although upon first glance, it doesn't appear that Eduardo needs teaching on that subject, there are a handful of other techniques that Xeno could still teach him.

As for Xeno's party of Pokémon that still reside within the Pokémon's Earth. Arceus has an important task for them, to gather all sixteen of Its elemental plates across the Sinnoh region and gather them together at Mt. Coronet's Spear Pillar.

However, with both Rome and Team Rocket still active and burning fervently, impediment from both sides against our group of protagonists is very likely, if not a guarantee. For Rome, it's the hooded figure's "support" to Nero, in the form of thirteen Roman soldiers that are somehow able to cope against both Eduardo and Xeno Lucario. And for Team Rocket, it's their leader Giovanni, who possesses battle armor that is able to replicate the abilities of other Pokémon.

However, that's only scratching the surface of what's to occur. What happens around the second half of the sequel is inspired heavily from the _Kingdom Hearts_ series. And I don't mean their characters, just some of their _themes_.

What songs will I use next?

I actually have a growing list of songs that I'll use, and where I intend to use them. For the most part, I already have the songs that I intend to use from the very start of the story, right down to the end. And because I list _where and when_ I intend to use the songs I've chosen, I've already sculpted the backbone of my story, where important events occur through the vast majority of it.

Most of the songs that I have ready for my sequel FanFic are from the _Kingdom Hearts_ series, with plenty from the main _Pokémon_ games as well. And aside from those two, there are a few that will surprise you.

What can I do to better _myself_?

Have you noticed how, in my Profile page, I only have _one_ story listed as my favorite, and a few authors listed as my favorite as well? The reason for that is because of my choice in writing FanFiction, and the FanFic series that I've established myself.

Before beginning "_The Path of the Aura_", I read dozens of FanFics, mostly those within the categories "Super Smash Bros.", and "_The Land Before Time_". And as I wrote my FanFic, I deliberately decided to postpone reading the FanFics of others, to avoid the likelihood of contaminating my ideas with those of others.

But now, I've recently decided to read FanFics once more, and have taken the liberty of first re-reading through the FanFics of those of the authors that I have on my "Favorite Authors" list, those authors being ones that I've known well before I decided to write FanFiction, because I've read through their stories a few years ago.

And once I finish their stories and leave my honest praise of them, I'm willing to broaden my horizons by reading FanFics from other categories of this site, starting with those that I hold close to my heart and to my fandom—like "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", "Kingdom Hearts", "Halo", etc.

I mention this because I'm also willing to take _your_ suggestions in FanFics that I should read, whether they're ones that you've enjoyed or ones that you've _personally written_. And I ask of this because I promise to _review_ every single chapter, which helps contribute to those/your stories, just as those who've reviewed _my_ story have contributed to mine. All you have to do, if you wish to do so, is PM me any story (most likely your own) that you think I will enjoy, and I will decide if I'm interested or not (odds are that I will be).

(Just don't recommend me "Cupcakes", a FanFic that is infamous in the brony community, even though I'll read it anyway for curiosity's sake, and eat a cupcake while I'm doing so.)

As it stands though, I'm presently reading and reviewing KingdomKey23's "Kingdom Hearts: The Nintendo Version". That story, and some of those that my "Favorite Authors" have written, take top priority for me. Still, I'm willing to make a list with your recommendations as I broaden my own horizons as well.

As it stands, OseanSoldier's "Dimensional War" is #1 on my recommendations list. I promised OseanSoldier that I would read and review "Dimensional War", and I'll be sure to do so after I finish KingdomKey23's FanFic.

What will I plan _after_ "_The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms_"?

I've stated how far I'm willing to go with this story, but I never specified it in a more concrete method. So, for you to get a better analysis of this, I should explain right now.

What originally started as "_The Path of the Aura: Intertwining Crossroads_" will not _just_ continue as "_The Path of the Aura II: Brothers in Arms_". If everything goes well for me, I will see to it that my story goes on, not as a trilogy, but as a _quartet_.

But what the third and _fourth_ installment in this little series of mine will cover, I'll go into detail about that when the time is right. After all, one can't reveal their hand too soon to the other players, or else there won't be any more surprises.

Though the only vague hints that I can give you is that "_The Path of the Aura III_" focuses on Mewtwo, and "_The Path of the Aura IV_" concludes my planned quartet.

* * *

><p>"The story is one that you and I will construct together in your memory. If the story means anything to you at all, then when you remember it afterward, think of it, not as something I created, but rather as something that we made together." —Orson Scott Card (xxv-xxvi) ("<em><span>Ender's Game<span>_")

* * *

><p>That's it for my first FanFic. I hope it was to your enjoyment as it was to mine in writing it.<p>

Here's hoping that my sequel lives to your expectations.


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